tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75970716584954024592017-10-15T06:43:44.396-07:00Intelligent HealthcareMachine Learning, Big Data analytics, Artificial Intelligence have made the space of DigitalHealth even more interesting. Emerging markets like India are taking on these learning and bringing exciting business models. This blog is about Dr Dass's involvement in such projects and case studies. more on www.healthcursor.comDr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comBlogger119125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-76619451422791367732017-10-11T01:04:00.001-07:002017-10-11T01:22:38.648-07:00Innovations on the Front Lines, Advances in Point of Care Technologies for Rural Settings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TLno7nIWPhs/Wd3QHH1XPlI/AAAAAAAAJeQ/H1CkrU4rb7cA3CZtnEvy1qIqLJu0ZznkwCLcBGAs/s1600/DLxzLC9VoAA1SDc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1024" height="160" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TLno7nIWPhs/Wd3QHH1XPlI/AAAAAAAAJeQ/H1CkrU4rb7cA3CZtnEvy1qIqLJu0ZznkwCLcBGAs/s320/DLxzLC9VoAA1SDc.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="color: white;"><span class="ember-view" id="ember4695" style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: &quot;source sans pro&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif , &quot;hiragino kaku gothic pro&quot; , &quot;meiryo&quot; , &quot;hiragino sans gb w3&quot; , &quot;noto naskh arabic&quot; , &quot;droid arabic naskh&quot; , &quot;geeza pro&quot; , &quot;simplified arabic&quot; , &quot;noto sans thai&quot; , &quot;thonburi&quot; , &quot;dokchampa&quot; , &quot;droid sans thai&quot; , &quot;droid sans fallback&quot; , , &quot;.sfnsdisplay-regular&quot; , &quot;heiti sc&quot; , &quot;microsoft yahei&quot; , &quot;segoe ui&quot;; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Will be speaking at Health 2.0 India Conference 2017 at Hyderabad on 10th Nov. </span><span style="color: white;"><a class="feed-link ember-view" href="https://lnkd.in/fKSfY7A" id="ember4698" style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">https://lnkd.in/fKSfY7A</a><span class="ember-view" id="ember4700" style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: &quot;source sans pro&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif , &quot;hiragino kaku gothic pro&quot; , &quot;meiryo&quot; , &quot;hiragino sans gb w3&quot; , &quot;noto naskh arabic&quot; , &quot;droid arabic naskh&quot; , &quot;geeza pro&quot; , &quot;simplified arabic&quot; , &quot;noto sans thai&quot; , &quot;thonburi&quot; , &quot;dokchampa&quot; , &quot;droid sans thai&quot; , &quot;droid sans fallback&quot; , , &quot;.sfnsdisplay-regular&quot; , &quot;heiti sc&quot; , &quot;microsoft yahei&quot; , &quot;segoe ui&quot;; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><a class="hashtag-link ember-view" data-control-name="update_hashtag" href="https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/content/?keywords=%23healthcare&amp;origin=HASH_TAG_FROM_FEED" id="ember4703" style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">#healthcare</a><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span><a class="feed-link feed-base-main-content__mention ember-view" data-control-name="mention" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/2553837/" id="ember4706" role="link" style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" tabindex="0">Health 2.0</a></span><span class="ember-view" id="ember4708" style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: &quot;source sans pro&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif , &quot;hiragino kaku gothic pro&quot; , &quot;meiryo&quot; , &quot;hiragino sans gb w3&quot; , &quot;noto naskh arabic&quot; , &quot;droid arabic naskh&quot; , &quot;geeza pro&quot; , &quot;simplified arabic&quot; , &quot;noto sans thai&quot; , &quot;thonburi&quot; , &quot;dokchampa&quot; , &quot;droid sans thai&quot; , &quot;droid sans fallback&quot; , , &quot;.sfnsdisplay-regular&quot; , &quot;heiti sc&quot; , &quot;microsoft yahei&quot; , &quot;segoe ui&quot;; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Innovations on the Front Lines, Advances in Point of Care Technologies for Rural Settings 12:00pm - 1:00pm Nov 10th 2017 </span></span><br /><span style="color: white;"><span class="ember-view" style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: &quot;source sans pro&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif , &quot;hiragino kaku gothic pro&quot; , &quot;meiryo&quot; , &quot;hiragino sans gb w3&quot; , &quot;noto naskh arabic&quot; , &quot;droid arabic naskh&quot; , &quot;geeza pro&quot; , &quot;simplified arabic&quot; , &quot;noto sans thai&quot; , &quot;thonburi&quot; , &quot;dokchampa&quot; , &quot;droid sans thai&quot; , &quot;droid sans fallback&quot; , , &quot;.sfnsdisplay-regular&quot; , &quot;heiti sc&quot; , &quot;microsoft yahei&quot; , &quot;segoe ui&quot;; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span> </span><br /><span style="color: white;"><span class="ember-view" style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: &quot;source sans pro&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif , &quot;hiragino kaku gothic pro&quot; , &quot;meiryo&quot; , &quot;hiragino sans gb w3&quot; , &quot;noto naskh arabic&quot; , &quot;droid arabic naskh&quot; , &quot;geeza pro&quot; , &quot;simplified arabic&quot; , &quot;noto sans thai&quot; , &quot;thonburi&quot; , &quot;dokchampa&quot; , &quot;droid sans thai&quot; , &quot;droid sans fallback&quot; , , &quot;.sfnsdisplay-regular&quot; , &quot;heiti sc&quot; , &quot;microsoft yahei&quot; , &quot;segoe ui&quot;; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: &quot;source sans pro&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif , &quot;hiragino kaku gothic pro&quot; , &quot;meiryo&quot; , &quot;hiragino sans gb w3&quot; , &quot;noto naskh arabic&quot; , &quot;droid arabic naskh&quot; , &quot;geeza pro&quot; , &quot;simplified arabic&quot; , &quot;noto sans thai&quot; , &quot;thonburi&quot; , &quot;dokchampa&quot; , &quot;droid sans thai&quot; , &quot;droid sans fallback&quot; , , &quot;.sfnsdisplay-regular&quot; , &quot;heiti sc&quot; , &quot;microsoft yahei&quot; , &quot;segoe ui&quot;; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Affordable point of care technologies are an integral part of an effective healthcare system, but continue to be a critical unmet need for billions of rural consumers in emerging markets like India. The role and impact of point of care technologies will be transformational over the next 10 years. This panel is designed for physicians, clinicians, hospital administrators, technologists and all healthcare and medical professionals who must learn about cutting-edge technology and how it will improving the business and service of patients.</span></span><br /><span style="color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.701961); font-family: &quot;source sans pro&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif , &quot;hiragino kaku gothic pro&quot; , &quot;meiryo&quot; , &quot;hiragino sans gb w3&quot; , &quot;noto naskh arabic&quot; , &quot;droid arabic naskh&quot; , &quot;geeza pro&quot; , &quot;simplified arabic&quot; , &quot;noto sans thai&quot; , &quot;thonburi&quot; , &quot;dokchampa&quot; , &quot;droid sans thai&quot; , &quot;droid sans fallback&quot; , , &quot;.sfnsdisplay-regular&quot; , &quot;heiti sc&quot; , &quot;microsoft yahei&quot; , &quot;segoe ui&quot;; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span> <span style="color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.701961); font-family: &quot;source sans pro&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif , &quot;hiragino kaku gothic pro&quot; , &quot;meiryo&quot; , &quot;hiragino sans gb w3&quot; , &quot;noto naskh arabic&quot; , &quot;droid arabic naskh&quot; , &quot;geeza pro&quot; , &quot;simplified arabic&quot; , &quot;noto sans thai&quot; , &quot;thonburi&quot; , &quot;dokchampa&quot; , &quot;droid sans thai&quot; , &quot;droid sans fallback&quot; , , &quot;.sfnsdisplay-regular&quot; , &quot;heiti sc&quot; , &quot;microsoft yahei&quot; , &quot;segoe ui&quot;; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bAEt_4gOGfo/Wd3QNJsNtJI/AAAAAAAAJeU/TLs7xteA8vA_X4IHJJJh-MdGlnyrJ5v7wCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-10-10%2Bat%2B7.56.54%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="361" data-original-width="635" height="361" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bAEt_4gOGfo/Wd3QNJsNtJI/AAAAAAAAJeU/TLs7xteA8vA_X4IHJJJh-MdGlnyrJ5v7wCLcBGAs/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-10-10%2Bat%2B7.56.54%2BPM.png" width="640" /></a></div><span class="ember-view" style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.701961); font-family: &quot;source sans pro&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif , &quot;hiragino kaku gothic pro&quot; , &quot;meiryo&quot; , &quot;hiragino sans gb w3&quot; , &quot;noto naskh arabic&quot; , &quot;droid arabic naskh&quot; , &quot;geeza pro&quot; , &quot;simplified arabic&quot; , &quot;noto sans thai&quot; , &quot;thonburi&quot; , &quot;dokchampa&quot; , &quot;droid sans thai&quot; , &quot;droid sans fallback&quot; , , &quot;.sfnsdisplay-regular&quot; , &quot;heiti sc&quot; , &quot;microsoft yahei&quot; , &quot;segoe ui&quot;; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span> <br /><span class="ember-view" style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.701961); font-family: &quot;source sans pro&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif , &quot;hiragino kaku gothic pro&quot; , &quot;meiryo&quot; , &quot;hiragino sans gb w3&quot; , &quot;noto naskh arabic&quot; , &quot;droid arabic naskh&quot; , &quot;geeza pro&quot; , &quot;simplified arabic&quot; , &quot;noto sans thai&quot; , &quot;thonburi&quot; , &quot;dokchampa&quot; , &quot;droid sans thai&quot; , &quot;droid sans fallback&quot; , , &quot;.sfnsdisplay-regular&quot; , &quot;heiti sc&quot; , &quot;microsoft yahei&quot; , &quot;segoe ui&quot;; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-86456830487767271942017-08-26T10:09:00.001-07:002017-08-26T10:19:47.951-07:00Genetic sequencing and Exciting Predictions in storeGenome, Chromosome, DNA all refer to our Genetic material and make us unique. DNA or Deoxyribo Nucleic Acid are molecules that are building entities of the genetic material present in an organism- a plant, a dog or a human being. These DNA molecules form long chains and then termed as a chromosome. A human chromosome may have 30 million DNA units in a chain. The Genome is referred to all of these chromosomes being together, i.e., all the genetic material in an organism.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>1 in every 5 healthy adults may unwittingly carry alterations in disease susceptibility genes- <a href="https://www.medicalnewsbulletin.com/whole-genome-sequencing-reveals-disease-risk/">Medical bulletin news</a> - 5 hours ago</b></blockquote><br />Genome analysis or sequencing relates to finding out the order of DNA nucleotides in a genome-i.e. makeup of an organism's DNA. A Human DNA is made up of over 3 billion of these genetic letters.<br /><br />Just like in astrology, predictions are made about career, life and health based on birth date, time, location (Lat. and Long.), Lagna, Dasha, Nakshatra, similarly using the whole genomic sequencing we can understand the heritability and predisposition of certain diseases, drug and treatment effectiveness, etc. &nbsp;Different genes are associated with diseases and hence knowing more about your genes and gene variants can help us study the associated disorders and their predisposition better. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pAYhNHnXhCc/WaGqzXOzLII/AAAAAAAAJP8/lnzNcPhF_sAZlEJknOVuGqmCUgka7GprwCLcBGAs/s1600/mapmygenome.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="897" data-original-width="1028" height="348" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pAYhNHnXhCc/WaGqzXOzLII/AAAAAAAAJP8/lnzNcPhF_sAZlEJknOVuGqmCUgka7GprwCLcBGAs/s400/mapmygenome.png" width="400" /></a></div>I was excited about this new science and was a witness to some significant research in this area. My family used Mapmygenome for our Genome sequencing. As it is still a new concept for Indians, mapmygenome provided full support regarding briefing with regards to the process, the significance of genomic sequencing and expected results. Mapmygenome has some real reputable names in their clientele already. The sample collection was relatively straightforward. We were asked to provide a buccal swab that took ten minutes only. It was collected in a test tube and was sent to the lab for DNA extraction and further processing. During the next 10 days, I received timely updates on my email and phone throughout the process when the sample was received and was going through the process of extraction and wet lab process and also when counseling was scheduled. Mapmygenome genetic counselors counseled us individually for over an hour helping us understand our reports better. Very exciting a process- must say! Worth investing and the counseling was the best part.<br /><br />My sister recently got diagnosed with idiopathic dermatitis herpetiformis and anemia, and the doctors were not able to concur on the diagnosis. She kept visiting Gynecologists for hormonal imbalance, Dermatologists, and Gastroenterologists regarding her food intolerances but was treated symptomatically. Her situation was getting worse, and she decided to get in touch with the genetic counselor again along with the doctor the genetic counselor suggested on request. Based on genetic linkage (HLA DQ2 or HLA DQ8) now she is diagnosed with coeliac diseases and since last eight months, she is maintaining a gluten free diet. Her symptoms have subsided, and quality of life has significantly improved :) I am more hopeful now because if Genetic testing can give you the lowdown on you or your family's chances of developing celiac disease, it can do much more in the areas of prevention and personalized healthcare.<br /><br />Knowing of a particular genetic predisposition could be a powerful tool for preventative medicine. Depending on the disease, specific drugs or behavioral modifications like diet or exercise could be prescribed to their patients early on hence reducing and managing the impact of those diseases later in life. With the recent advancement in computing, and popularity of cloud there is a realistic hope that sooner we will be able to tease out these elusive genetic markers with biologists who can shed light on what those genes do.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-10556748294551627442017-08-16T23:56:00.001-07:002017-08-19T14:04:56.675-07:00Royal Society of Medicine elected Dr Ruchi Dass Fellow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EDcGos6zFlM/WZU9vVxzB4I/AAAAAAAAJKs/xZoKoNF5HbMQhcDlntqgpUmshhHtZuezwCLcBGAs/s1600/rsm-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EDcGos6zFlM/WZU9vVxzB4I/AAAAAAAAJKs/xZoKoNF5HbMQhcDlntqgpUmshhHtZuezwCLcBGAs/s320/rsm-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Popular Health Technology Author and Founder, HealthCursor Consulting Group Dr. Ruchi V Dass elected Royal Society of Medicine Honorary Fellow in the United Kingdom. (Photo courtesy of Ruchi Dass)<br /><br />Joining some of the elite names among scientists and physicians, Health Technology Author and Business Icon Ruchi Dass has been elected as a fellow of The Royal Society of Medicine in the United Kingdom.<br /><br />Dass is a renowned Physician and has worked with development organisation across the world driving technology driven public health initiatives. She is the Founder of the consulting group HealthCursor, and Author of several journals, including her upcoming book on “Big Data in Healthcare” with Springer.<br /><br />Dr Dass wrote a book on “Innovations in Healthcare” that was unveiled by the Honourable President of India Mr. Pranab Mukherjee in 2013. Dr. Ruchi Dass was listed amongst Most Powerful and Influential leaders in IT by Information week in 2013 and also received INTEROP’s “Women leader” recognition by Facebook CEO.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-635_74YnJ8Q/WZU94vefl0I/AAAAAAAAJKw/bnHTZCxh3AoXBUqD7zLqajoXOM7GL9wAQCLcBGAs/s1600/16174621_794530470685825_3118747129684113624_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="394" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-635_74YnJ8Q/WZU94vefl0I/AAAAAAAAJKw/bnHTZCxh3AoXBUqD7zLqajoXOM7GL9wAQCLcBGAs/s200/16174621_794530470685825_3118747129684113624_n.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />“Telemedicine includes a wide and growing variety of electronic medical information and the ways that it is exchanged. From smartphone technology to virtual patient visits, from rural locations to new military applications, telemedicine is poised to assist physicians in the task of providing excellence in patient care.,” she said.<br /><br />“I am proud to have been a small part of the advances we have made in the area of using advanced Cognitive and Digital Technology in Healthcare.” Dr Dass mentioned.<br /><br /><br /><br />Each year, an elite group of physicians or scientists is elected to The Royal Society of Medicine following nomination and committee review; former fellows include Charles Darwin, Louis Pasteur, Edward Jenner and Sigmund Freud. Elected fellows of the Royal Society are comparable to members of the Institute of Medicine in the United States.<br /><br />Dass lives in India and amongst her other affiliations are the WHO’s PMNCH forum volunteer, Member HIMSS Innovation Community (Las Vegas), ICT4D member, the IPIHD Innovators (World Economic Forum) and the Indian Dental Association.<br /><br />-----------------------excerpt from Telegraph<br /><br />Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-33936369908632357492017-02-07T04:38:00.000-08:002017-02-11T06:35:17.848-08:00Blockchain, Predictive Analytics and HealthcareEpisode-of-care payment and comprehensive care payment systems can help providers prevent health problems; avoid the occurrence of acute episodes among individuals who have health conditions; prevent poor outcomes during major acute episodes, such as infections, complications, and hospital readmissions; and reduce the costs of successful treatment.<br /><br />Using cryptography to keep exchanges secure, blockchain provides a decentralised database, or “digital ledger”, of transactions that everyone on the network can see. This network is essentially a chain of computers that must all approve an exchange before it can be verified and recorded.<br /><br /><b><u>Learn more about the use of Blockchain in healthcare here:</u></b><br /><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 5px;"><strong> <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/ruchibhatt/blockchain-predictive-analytics-and-healthcare" target="_blank" title="Blockchain, Predictive Analytics and Healthcare">Blockchain, Predictive Analytics and Healthcare</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="https://www.slideshare.net/ruchibhatt" target="_blank">Dr. Ruchi Dass</a></strong> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KILgQcxUFrY/WJ8hBqkV4RI/AAAAAAAAIOg/swO4bgpNPUkh51C_rZz6NPqgNRYrZRqKgCLcB/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-02-11%2Bat%2B8.02.07%2BPM.png" width="640" /></div><br /></div><br /><br />It is distributed. Means it is de- centralised. Nobody is an owner.<br /><br />It is public. Everyone can see it.<br /><br />Things that have happened are time stamped, recorded and coded.<br /><br />It is persistent. As far as everyone is participating, it is for forever.<br /><br />SECURITY AND PRIVACY are built into the system as well. (On the internet the problem was that TCPIP is not built in for identity or encryption.<br /><br />Smart contracts are built in- which means once a transaction is made automatically the laws of the contract are applied and executed. Value, data and money can be moved now.<br /><br />For example, if everyone in a conference room has a spreadsheet of no. of shirts they own and they share it. The data miners after every 10 seconds will find out the new shirts added, shorts deleted, ownership of shirts changed, etc..<br /><br />The miners will then publish this to everyone holding a ledger who participated in the blockchain. This is called block of work chained to the initial block and hence blockchain- that is why it is persistent, and you get a running, consistent account of things that is time stamped, verified by everyone, virtually un-hackable because no one can reverse it.<br /><br />And this is the reason why for Bitcoins, financial services it is an important technology because this is why you wait for 3 days for your cheque to get cleared. Right!Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-61894072540175939742017-02-07T04:30:00.005-08:002017-02-07T04:30:56.809-08:00INDIA- The Growth EngineThe economy minister, Shaktikanta Das, has given his prediction of India's GDP growth for the coming 2017 - 2018 fiscal year. He says that it will be upwards of 7% and there's not any reason to doubt him.<br /><br />The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in India expanded 1.80 percent in the third quarter of 2016 over the previous quarter. GDP Growth Rate in India averaged 1.67 percent from 1996 until 2016, reaching an all-time high of 5.80 percent in the second quarter of 2009.Here are stats related to some popular markets:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zWsX0sVMtEI/WJm9hmkN1eI/AAAAAAAAINI/4MT07GPWBHcgiNANtiDf1eAgikPba2-xQCLcB/s1600/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAmnAAAAJDA4MjQ3MTQzLWZiMTItNDU3MC04OGZlLTlmM2U0NmQwMjlhYw.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zWsX0sVMtEI/WJm9hmkN1eI/AAAAAAAAINI/4MT07GPWBHcgiNANtiDf1eAgikPba2-xQCLcB/s640/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAmnAAAAJDA4MjQ3MTQzLWZiMTItNDU3MC04OGZlLTlmM2U0NmQwMjlhYw.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />The only potential fly in the ointment any of us can see for India's economic growth is the effects of demonetization, and whatever they are they are now--it has happened, and it has gone. Macroeconomic conditions are such that the government is providing a modest boost to the economy with a smallish budget deficit. Inflation is not negligible, but it does appear under control. Much to most of the growth is domestic and not affected all that much by the global lassitude in growth.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bdC6_0JEhMc/WJm9hTnGhzI/AAAAAAAAINA/owDesU8cSMI5b-amNHrRpcNRIIbVNq0MQCEw/s1600/AAEAAQAAAAAAAA1DAAAAJDYyYjA0YmZkLTU3MjMtNDQ2MS05YWY0LWYyNmE4NjQ4Y2IyNA.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bdC6_0JEhMc/WJm9hTnGhzI/AAAAAAAAINA/owDesU8cSMI5b-amNHrRpcNRIIbVNq0MQCEw/s400/AAEAAQAAAAAAAA1DAAAAJDYyYjA0YmZkLTU3MjMtNDQ2MS05YWY0LWYyNmE4NjQ4Y2IyNA.png" width="400" /></a></div>Ongoing efforts to restructure bank balance sheets to revive lending and reduce excessive leverage at large corporations is setting the stage for a recovery in investment spending likely to drive growth higher in FY2017.Healthcare has become one of India’s largest sectors - both in terms of revenue and employment. The Indian wellness industry was estimated at close to Rs85,000 crore in the financial year 2014-15 and is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 12% for the next five years. The industry can achieve about Rs1.5 trillion by FY20, according to a recent report by Ficci and EY.<br /><br />In India, we will see a radical consolidation in the healthcare industry owing to several scenarios. Mega-corporations will have the advantage over mom-and-pop shows. I assume that apart from the government, three-four large players, some of them international giants, will dominate 80% of the market.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wxfIc0GM36I/WJm9h96SyII/AAAAAAAAINM/uiX0Ji4Tebkg-L5irBFhywsp2fWgL0EHgCEw/s1600/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAt5AAAAJDhkNDBlMmZiLWUyZjEtNDAyZS05ZmQzLTBlMzUyYjk2YTE4MA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wxfIc0GM36I/WJm9h96SyII/AAAAAAAAINM/uiX0Ji4Tebkg-L5irBFhywsp2fWgL0EHgCEw/s640/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAt5AAAAJDhkNDBlMmZiLWUyZjEtNDAyZS05ZmQzLTBlMzUyYjk2YTE4MA.png" width="640" /></a></div>The sheer size of our country will attract investment in healthcare infrastructure, divided between increasing the reach and deployment of technology. High-end communication technologies, devices and platforms will form the backbone of effective range. Analytics and big data will be the direction setters for the way patients are treated, medically or otherwise.I am reasonably sure that the practices of medical professionals will be largely institutionalised owing to super-specialization. The design of current set-ups like hospitals will see a sea change. In all probability, they will become diagnostic and treatment stations, while recuperation will be shifted to homes.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NFr_1AujnlM/WJm9hjZ_MEI/AAAAAAAAINE/wGyxqCi_icAXI4xpQwYAW3v7CYdpxedoQCEw/s1600/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAsoAAAAJGNhZmI1NjM4LWY0NzctNDczZC1hOTA0LWQzODkyZjI0N2VjZQ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NFr_1AujnlM/WJm9hjZ_MEI/AAAAAAAAINE/wGyxqCi_icAXI4xpQwYAW3v7CYdpxedoQCEw/s320/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAsoAAAAJGNhZmI1NjM4LWY0NzctNDczZC1hOTA0LWQzODkyZjI0N2VjZQ.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The India Conference is one of the largest student-run conferences focusing on India in the USA. It is hosted by the Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School by the graduate students of Harvard University.<br /><br />In 2017, India Conference will be celebrating our 14th anniversary. The conference will bring together business leaders, entertainment professionals, government officials, philanthropists, and many other leaders to engage in a conversation about India’s path to global leadership. Our 2016 conference had over 1000 attendees and was a resounding success.<br /><br />Learn more from experts at India conference about Union budget measures, infrastructure, arts, technology growth, rural economy, new businesses, global synergies and demonetization. Refer to the <a href="http://indiaconference.com/">agenda here</a> and register.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Sources:</span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">ADB-https://www.adb.org/countries/india/economy#tabs-0-2</span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2017/02/04/indias-gdp-growth-for-fiscal-2017-to-be-upwards-of-7-shaktikanta-das/#1f0f379e653b</span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">News Livemint- http://www.livemint.com/Politics/H50PvO2qmDaapNgNN6KWZM/India-in-10-years-Healthcare-sector-will-see-radical-consol.html</span>Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-92154028689786655462017-02-03T02:38:00.001-08:002017-02-03T03:51:33.772-08:00Human Factors in Healthcare<i>Stare in the middle of the image below..as you move your eyes around you will see black dots flashing. now you know that there is no flashing possible here but it tricks your brain.</i><br /><i><br /></i> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xK3BKlyb0Ds/WJRbxocituI/AAAAAAAAILo/zgqdJECL7NoqN1uBm6W3Uen55xR4MjR8gCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-02-03%2Bat%2B3.38.29%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xK3BKlyb0Ds/WJRbxocituI/AAAAAAAAILo/zgqdJECL7NoqN1uBm6W3Uen55xR4MjR8gCLcB/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-02-03%2Bat%2B3.38.29%2BPM.png" width="320" /></a></div><i><br /></i> <br />Human eyes could be easier to trick than you might think.A Japanese professor, Kokichi Sugihara, created sculptures that trick the mind to see the impossible. He was the winner of the Best Illusion of the Year Contest in 2010 and 2nd place in 2016.<br /><br />Like when that thing goes there, isn't it supposed to go over there and not over there? Shouldn't the little balls be rolling to the right instead of the left? How did that thing do the thing? Huh?!<br /><br />Check out some of Sugihara's best brain-bending illusions:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PVRyMvYVHGQ/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PVRyMvYVHGQ?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><br /><b>Conformational Bias </b>Illusions occur when brain tries to make sense out of conflicting information based on his/her experience.<br /><br />Human sight is falliable and images can easily be misread leading to errors in processing information. For practising Physicians as well, we have seen such conformational bias.<br /><br />When a new piece of information is presented which is not in tandom and consistent with someone's current mental model, there are chances that it will be disregarded.<br /><br />Let us think of a mental model including the three units in Patient management-<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Experience-- Expectation---Briefing</span></b></div><br />My cousin got admitted in the Emergency department Saturday night and the duty doctor made a presumptive diagnosis. The next day this diagnosis was handed over to the head of the department as a part of patient's history. The Physician here adopted the briefing, experience and expectation of the Emergency department Physician to his mental model and prescribed medication- possibly got blinded to realise a differing picture.<br /><br />That is why in Psychology of Healthcare, a shared mental model design is necessary. There are a lot of factors that can influence situation awareness. Mental model sharing includes:<br /><br />1. members of the team holding the least possible/least consistent mental model as their approach to avoid underestimation, conditioned thinking and oversight.<br />2. Effective communication between all team members<br />3. active monitoring of team memener actions, understanding, data processed/evidence available through the senses<br />-also for patient, equipment, summary, documentation and instruments.<br /><br /><b>Schizophrenia&nbsp;</b><br /><b><br /></b> The important principle to understand is that our perceptions are not the same thing as stimuli that are picked up by our sensory receptors. Think of hallucinations in individuals experiencing mental illness like schizophrenia.<br /><br />Hallucinations are involuntary and can occur in the absence of an external stimuli. That means a person sees or hear something that is not there. In the neuroimaging studies, sientists have gathered information around normal and abnormal conciousness and unconcious brains states.<br /><br />Brain can pretty much create its own realities and illusions. That means brain can respond differently to external and internal stimulus.<br /><br />In the 19th century, Dr. E. Babbit, M.D. proved that colored light was capable of healing through the effect on the autonomic nerve fibers in the skin and via the nerves from the eye to the brain. Dr. Spitler proved in the 1930’s that psychiatric illnesses could be cured or improved by using a visual colored light source. It is now known that there are at least four effects from light. These are: <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MdZnDUgakvs/WJRbvHxqSsI/AAAAAAAAILs/G5eEVtjyArgk-WeeJZg_M7sXZ3i-vZcGACEw/s1600/03.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MdZnDUgakvs/WJRbvHxqSsI/AAAAAAAAILs/G5eEVtjyArgk-WeeJZg_M7sXZ3i-vZcGACEw/s320/03.bmp" width="320" /></a></div>1. The optic nerve to the pituitary gland, temporal lobe, and occipital lobe of the brain. This information affects the conscious part of the brain without interpretation. <br /><br />2. A second nerve bundle from the retina to the hypothalamus, which is a major control area for both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves. Dr. Fritz Hollwich, M.D. has shown that color affects neurotransmitter and hormone levels in the brain and spinal cord, which in turn affect the rest of metabolism and biochemistry. <br /><br />3. This path goes from the retina to the midbrain, and then to the superior cervical ganglion to the brainstem and then to the pineal gland. This area controls, among other things, our circadian (sleep/wake) cycle. <br /><br />4. The last is a direct effect of the light upon particles that travel in the lymph, blood, and nerves. Researchers at the University of Vienna found that albumin is one of the particles able to be charged by light. It is then able to deliver this charge to tissues at distant locations (tissues) in the body. <br /><br />Watch Dr. Paul McHugh talking on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSg1w3tx_jw">How a Psychiatrist Approaches the Illusion of Technique in Health Care Delivery Today</a><br /><br />There are several brain tricking /training exercises available. I leave you with few of these here:<br /><br /><b>How many figures can you see?</b><br /><b><br /></b> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EK1uKCLO3_E/WJRbu1mlLqI/AAAAAAAAILQ/LjwsPMT_BuMbgHuYu6lqSMHhCzJLicvJQCEw/s1600/b2ap3_thumbnail_brain15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EK1uKCLO3_E/WJRbu1mlLqI/AAAAAAAAILQ/LjwsPMT_BuMbgHuYu6lqSMHhCzJLicvJQCEw/s1600/b2ap3_thumbnail_brain15.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><b>How many planks are there?</b><br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m77s5CFxtWw/WJRbuwhOnVI/AAAAAAAAILU/54tUP9Zzyw4YJb4Ew9MPRnlUbXGGmIOzACEw/s1600/b2ap3_thumbnail_brain11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="139" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m77s5CFxtWw/WJRbuwhOnVI/AAAAAAAAILU/54tUP9Zzyw4YJb4Ew9MPRnlUbXGGmIOzACEw/s320/b2ap3_thumbnail_brain11.jpg" width="320" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><b>Is this a duck looking left or a bunny looking right?</b><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ytbcYvecCIE/WJRbvhlKBbI/AAAAAAAAILk/ngxTn3RGyOUyWW8sxl_a_WY5uDX8Cv4hQCEw/s1600/b2ap3_thumbnail_brain8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ytbcYvecCIE/WJRbvhlKBbI/AAAAAAAAILk/ngxTn3RGyOUyWW8sxl_a_WY5uDX8Cv4hQCEw/s1600/b2ap3_thumbnail_brain8.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><b>Are the horizontal lines straight?</b><br /><b><br /></b> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OFcYEif1BJw/WJRbvUOD7_I/AAAAAAAAILs/zahl_YHxOzYX9ltwcEUePFbr-N1h024ogCEw/s1600/b2ap3_thumbnail_brain3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OFcYEif1BJw/WJRbvUOD7_I/AAAAAAAAILs/zahl_YHxOzYX9ltwcEUePFbr-N1h024ogCEw/s1600/b2ap3_thumbnail_brain3.jpg" /></a></div><b><br /></b> <br /><b><br /></b> <b><br /></b> <b><br /></b> <b><br /></b> <b><br /></b> <b><br /></b> <b><br /></b> <b><br /></b> <b><br /></b> <b><br /></b> <b><br /></b><br /><b>How many legs does this elephant have?</b><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tyh0nxsGba8/WJRbvVKrUNI/AAAAAAAAILs/u1hYD0hV1qI8qjF26M3pP-ZEAITOG0p2QCEw/s1600/b2ap3_thumbnail_brain2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tyh0nxsGba8/WJRbvVKrUNI/AAAAAAAAILs/u1hYD0hV1qI8qjF26M3pP-ZEAITOG0p2QCEw/s1600/b2ap3_thumbnail_brain2.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Comments welcome.Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-30627008407057102212017-01-17T02:38:00.002-08:002017-01-30T07:09:06.751-08:00Dr. Ruchi Dass to speak at Harvard Business School- India Conference, Boston<br />Meet Team India at the Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School as they discuss business opportunities under the theme<br /><br />INDIA - THE GLOBAL GROWTH ENGINE, FEBRUARY 11-12, 2017 <br /><br /><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fruchidass%2Fposts%2F1910955435791291%3A0&width=500" width="500" height="556" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true"></iframe><br /><br />INDIA - THE GLOBAL GROWTH ENGINE<br />FEBRUARY 11-12, 2017<br /><br />More on <a href="http://indiaconference.com/2017/speakers/">http://indiaconference.com/2017/speakers/</a>Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-18782426036230943502016-10-07T09:25:00.001-07:002016-10-07T09:25:54.677-07:00Why we never noticed ZIKA?- Indian Research and Development<b><i>“Zika had 'disappeared' because it wasn’t worth worrying about and people weren’t paying attention.”</i></b><br /><b><i><br /></i></b> Zika virus was first identified in 1947 in a sentinel monkey that was being used to monitor for the presence of yellow fever virus in the Zika Forest of Uganda. At this time cell lines were not available for studying viruses, so serum from the febrile monkey was inoculated intra-cerebrally into mice. All the mice became sick, and the virus isolated from their brains was called Zika virus. The same virus was subsequently isolated from Aedes africanus mosquitoes in the Zika forest.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O26Cce5Jvlk/V_fKnxBzUtI/AAAAAAAAHvo/DEzC0KoREhgUkx5XMkW6-sujdWNqmT0GACLcB/s1600/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAR5AAAAJGNkMTMyNDZkLWY3NDgtNDcyMy1iMTRlLTM5OTk3MzgzMGEyZA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="145" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O26Cce5Jvlk/V_fKnxBzUtI/AAAAAAAAHvo/DEzC0KoREhgUkx5XMkW6-sujdWNqmT0GACLcB/s640/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAR5AAAAJGNkMTMyNDZkLWY3NDgtNDcyMy1iMTRlLTM5OTk3MzgzMGEyZA.png" width="640" /></a></div>In 1950, when some serological studies were being done, it was found that we humans developed antibodies against this virus. Further studies revealed evidence of infection in other African countries, including Uganda, Tanzania, Egypt, Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, and Gabon, as well as Asia (India, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia). The virus circulating in Brazil is an Asian genotype, possibly imported during the World Cup of 2014. As of this writing Zika virus has spread to 23 countries in the Americas.<br /><br />India is vulnerable to Zika virus outbreak as the species of mosquito, Aedes aegypti, which carries the virus, is found across the country. It's the same mosquito that carries the viruses of Dengue and Chikungunya. The prevalence in the country of dengue and chikungunya can make it hard to gauge Zika’s prevalence early.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cIV5cucTkp0/V_fKpPI4niI/AAAAAAAAHvw/Qmt42IZWMcsabstVsjaF1kOaZ2koD4nQwCEw/s1600/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAWDAAAAJGJiNTM3ZmZhLTZhYjItNGQzMi1iNzg3LTZkOThjZWFmMTBkMA.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="129" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cIV5cucTkp0/V_fKpPI4niI/AAAAAAAAHvw/Qmt42IZWMcsabstVsjaF1kOaZ2koD4nQwCEw/s200/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAWDAAAAJGJiNTM3ZmZhLTZhYjItNGQzMi1iNzg3LTZkOThjZWFmMTBkMA.png" width="200" /></a></div><b>Dire need to digitize records and report early</b>- The baseline prevalence of congenital microcephaly is difficult to determine because of underreporting, and the inconsistency of clinical criteria used to define microcephaly. Although population-based estimates of congenital microcephaly in Brazil vary, the number of infants with microcephaly currently being reported in Brazil is greater than would be expected???<br /><br />During the first week of infection, Zika virus can be found in the blood and can pass from an infected person to another mosquito through mosquito bites. An infected mosquito can then spread the virus to other people. To help prevent others from getting sick, avoid mosquito bites during the first week of illness by strictly following steps to prevent mosquito bites.<br /><br /><b>Advanced Disease Analytics</b> It is very hard to prove the linkage between Zika virus and microcephaly cases. The proposed link between Zika and microcephaly began taking shape in September after some pediatricians in northeast Brazil noticed an unusual number of babies born with microcephaly. This spike in microcephaly cases coincided with an outbreak of Zika, a virus related to the dengue virus and spread by mosquitoes, and when a task force set up a registry to track the problem, it discovered that in 26 of the first 35 cases entered, the mother had developed an illness with a rash potentially indicative of Zika during her pregnancy.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gs-UwlJP1CY/V_fKpYHSqPI/AAAAAAAAHv0/YveinCuSiicl3WPEsemCoOHjgtrkEQx5QCEw/s1600/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAaaAAAAJDA0MGZkODM4LTUxOGYtNGNkNS05ZDljLThkMDBiMDJjYzBjMg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gs-UwlJP1CY/V_fKpYHSqPI/AAAAAAAAHv0/YveinCuSiicl3WPEsemCoOHjgtrkEQx5QCEw/s640/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAaaAAAAJDA0MGZkODM4LTUxOGYtNGNkNS05ZDljLThkMDBiMDJjYzBjMg.png" width="640" /></a></div>But confirming a link between Zika and microcephaly will take more research and time — months, if not years — and the confirmation may end up as a preponderance of evidence rather than a definitive link. What’s easy to forget about the oft-cited scientific mantra, correlation is not causation, is that causation is incredibly difficult to prove. When you’re a doctor who’s seeing an alarming number of infants born with birth defects, correlation may be all you have to go on.<br /><br /><b>Hope:</b> There are currently no antiviral drugs or vaccines that can be used to treat or prevent infection with Zika virus. We do have a safe and effective vaccine against another flavivirus, yellow fever virus. Substituting the gene encoding the yellow fever E glycoprotein with that from Zika virus might be a good approach to quickly making a Zika vaccine. However, testing of such a vaccine candidate might require several years.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vnMGU8j9UKA/V_fKnZ3xCaI/AAAAAAAAHvk/lvJjs9mcr60zQWkd0Rqz6UgCgd8fNrXcQCEw/s1600/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAU8AAAAJDc4YmI4NDFlLWFmMWItNGMyYS1hMDljLTNjY2Y1ZGExMTBkNQ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vnMGU8j9UKA/V_fKnZ3xCaI/AAAAAAAAHvk/lvJjs9mcr60zQWkd0Rqz6UgCgd8fNrXcQCEw/s320/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAU8AAAAJDc4YmI4NDFlLWFmMWItNGMyYS1hMDljLTNjY2Y1ZGExMTBkNQ.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Hyderabad based lab claims breakthrough achievement in developing world's first Zika vaccine- Bharat Biotech, a Hyderabad-based vaccines and bio-therapeutic manufacturer, on February 3, claimed to have achieved a breakthrough in developing a vaccine to fight the dreaded mosquito-borne Zika virus. The two candidate vaccines are in an advanced stage of development and could be ready soon after pre-clinical studies are concluded in the next five months.<br /><br />The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued the Pre-qualification of Medicines Programme (PQP) certification to Chennai-based Green Signal Bio Pharma. The pharmaceutical company got the certification to manufacture a Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine, with which, it became the only Indian company to get PQP certification from WHO.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tTQIc6Bxrlg/V_fKocW85MI/AAAAAAAAHvs/BsdbxzQlE_wxI-rasDlmPOXr3eZMgHmoACEw/s1600/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAUxAAAAJDU2YWJjZGE5LWQzYWItNDlmZC1hNWI4LWFmNTVkNzliMmZjZA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tTQIc6Bxrlg/V_fKocW85MI/AAAAAAAAHvs/BsdbxzQlE_wxI-rasDlmPOXr3eZMgHmoACEw/s320/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAUxAAAAJDU2YWJjZGE5LWQzYWItNDlmZC1hNWI4LWFmNTVkNzliMmZjZA.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Zika virus has never been isolated in India. The only time any trace of the virus was recorded in India was in 1952-53. A study titled ‘Neutralising antibodies against certain viruses in the sera of the residents of India’, published in a journal called The Journal of Immunology, recorded among other viruses, antibodies to the Zika virus. The study, which went to 38 localities in six states in India, tested 15 vector borne viruses. “Significant numbers of the sera neutralised Zika,” noted the study authored by “KC Smithburn of the Rockefeller Foundation in New York, JA Karr, director, virus research centre in Poona and PB Gatne, Medical offer, Bombay State India.<br /><br /><b>Remember:</b><br /><br /><br /><ol><li>The Zika virus is heat-driven. The hotter it is, the more effectively the mosquitoes are able to spread diseases. India is a favorable climate.</li><li>India is one of the countries where <b>Aedes Aegypti -</b> the mosquitoes that transmit both Dengue and the Zika virus are extremely prevalent.</li><li>Storage of drinking water and other urban water, containers including plant-pot bases, guttering, tarpaulins and tyres and discarded containers can all collect rainwater and provide habitat for Aedes aegypti larvae.</li></ol><br /><br /><u><i><b>Aedes aegypti</b></i></u><br /><br /><ol><li>Is a domestic mosquito</li><li>Generally, lives indoors and near people</li><li>Rests in cool shaded places in houses such as in wardrobes, laundry areas and under furniture</li><li>Is hard to catch and moves very quickly, darting back and forth</li><li>Often bites around your feet and ankles, and may bite repeatedly</li><li>Has a bite that is often relatively painless, so you may not notice you are being bitten or you may think you are being bitten by sandflies or biting midges</li><li>Feeds during daylight hours. Biting activity is higher in the two hours after sunrise or before sunset, but they will bite throughout the day. As a result, bed nets do not prevent dengue transmission.</li><li>Stepping up action against Zika virus, Health Ministry on Monday said 10 new diagnostic facilities will become operational in different states by the end of February. In addition to the two diagnostic facilities at NCDC and National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune, 10 new facilities will become operational by end of February. These are located in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Karnataka, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Assam.</li></ol><br />As a precaution, all aircraft are being disinfected as per the WHO guidelines. In addition, vector breeding in containers at the seaports is also being taken up and National Vector Borne Diseases Control Program and National Centre for Disease Control are checking for control of vector densities. Surveillance activities have been activated through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) network along with Rapid Response Teams in states. So far no Zika case has been reported in India. We urge the common public to keep a watch and report every Zika case to RRT teams in every state.<br /><br /><b>As Zika heads to India, an older strain in Indians prepare for a second coming-</b> A virulent version of the Zika virus that has swept the globe is headed for India, where an older, more benign strain is likely to be quietly residing within some Indians, possibly preparing genetic ground for a quick, new second-coming, experts have warned.<br /><br />In India, the Zika virus – which has no cure or vaccine – was first found in Pune 64 years ago, as part of a survey that was testing immunity to Japanese and Russian varieties of a virus-borne brain infection called encephalitis, according to a forthcoming paper authored by World Health Organisation (WHO) scientists.<br /><br />The paper comes soon after this study in the Lancet, a medical journal, which used travel patterns to predict that India – where more than 67,000 air travellers arrive every year – and four other countries (China, Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand) were most at risk for year-round transmission of the Zika virus. China has more people, but more people are at risk in India. <a href="http://www.firstpost.com/india/as-zika-heads-to-india-an-older-strain-in-indians-prepare-for-a-second-coming-2998508.html">Read more&gt;&gt;</a><br /><br /><b><u><i>Chinkungunya wasn’t supposed to be in India; then it showed up</i></u></b><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HzhJifilpy8/V_fMWXpiQ_I/AAAAAAAAHwA/9qdQnrFHQJc7PzoxXhqtsMv16b4-q9W4gCLcB/s1600/chikungunya-fever.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HzhJifilpy8/V_fMWXpiQ_I/AAAAAAAAHwA/9qdQnrFHQJc7PzoxXhqtsMv16b4-q9W4gCLcB/s320/chikungunya-fever.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Zika’s cousin, chikungunya, first had a major outbreak across India – barring Kerala which had no Aedes aegypti mosquitoes then – between 1964 and 1967.<br /><br />Chikungunya faded from public and scientific memory, and when it returned in 2002, “we were caught with our collective pants down”, said T Jacob John, a retired virologist who, along with two colleagues, documented India’s first HIV infection in 1986, and designed a national response.<br />The second coming of chikungunya in India came through a mutated and more virulent virus, John noted. “We missed a golden opportunity to document all that.”<br /><b><i><br /></i></b><b><i>Referrring to Zika, John described the feeling as “deja vu chikungunya”.</i></b><br /><br /><br /><blockquote style="border: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: Georgia, 'Source Serif Pro', serif; font-size: 2.4rem; font-style: italic; line-height: 3.6rem; margin: 4.8rem 120px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; quotes: none; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></blockquote>Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-57965252212008506882016-09-23T00:03:00.000-07:002016-09-23T02:52:49.126-07:00Innovations that caught my attention recently-#Healthtech<b>No. 1- Lyme bacteria use the same technique as White Blood Cells to navigate and move in blood vessels</b><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8efb472M_o4/V-TOLD-ovSI/AAAAAAAAHrw/RYEv6nwZ9pUOU89oRgt_8LDloBMeEZgUACPcB/s1600/082516_lh_Lyme-disease_free.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="342" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8efb472M_o4/V-TOLD-ovSI/AAAAAAAAHrw/RYEv6nwZ9pUOU89oRgt_8LDloBMeEZgUACPcB/s640/082516_lh_Lyme-disease_free.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />In an interesting case of convergent evolution Lyme bacteria use the same technique as White Blood Cells to navigate and move in blood vessels.To zip through the bloodstream and spread infection throughout the body, the bacteria that cause Lyme disease take a cue from the white blood cells trying to attack them. Both use specialized bonds to stick to the cells lining blood vessels and move along at their own pace, biologist Tara Moriarty and colleagues report September 6 in Cell Reports.<br /><br />“It’s really an amazing case of convergent evolution,” says Wendy Thomas, a biologist at the University of Washington in Seattle who wasn’t part of the study. “There’s little structural similarity between the molecules involved in these behaviors, and yet their behavior is the same.” <br /><br /><b><br />No.2- Wearable Robot for people who lost their hand function</b><br /><br />This wearable robot helps disabled patients regain control of their hands. The system consists of a glove that fits between the index finger, middle finger and thumb. Patients who have lost their hand functions due to injuries or nerve-related conditions, such as stroke and muscular dystrophy, now have a chance of restoring their hand movements by using a new lightweight and smart rehabilitation wearable robot.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxVZ6bl58mLT0SbTltZ8rm4b9btHyH-tb1lBm-hMjE1SD7HHiLSa3b70fhXrVT5YBjyLy5WpVWqRZMutCwMZg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br /><br /><br />This is what one customer wrote as feedback after going through the demo-<br /><br />"To have personally come back from a spinal cord injury - to be able to walk again still blows my mind. changed my view on this power vessel called a body. I love my body- stretchmarks, cellulite and all. It is a wonderful machine. My passion is to continue to educate people on the word function and to truly explore what it means. Much of our society is based on the "look of things" and not the "function" it has damaged the very essence of life for many. This is a wonderful demonstration of dedicated people. Thank you for the service you have provided for many..﻿"<br /><br /><b>No. 3 Stroke prevention Implant</b><br /><b><br /></b> <iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz2821FeZDvoaCEONXoIz-2PFmQL4C54ldfZkBoBcNIjVWaZ6J4vzUbMycr3VIddaS-JTChkmw8nSxyvRzeCw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />I have seen many innovations that help predict a stroke and send info to a Doctor remotely to take action and rehabilitate.This new innovation called "Watchman" can be inserted in less than an hour and could save your life. A lot of people might think that it is like striking one thing off their list to worry about. However, good diet and exercise is something still beneficial and should be maintained.<br />The newly FDA-approved Watchman device is a small implant that reduces the risk of stroke and blood clots.<br /><br />The blood thinner Warfarin is the standard way doctors try to prevent clots and strokes in patients with irregular rhythms, but the Watchman implant stops blood clots where they start. The majority of clots form in a pouch called the left atrial appendage.<br /><br />When people have atrial fibrillation in the upper chamber of their heart, known as the atrium, it does not pump, but instead it quivers and that is why the appendage fills with blood. It does not squeeze out the blood and that's how clots are formed.<br /><br />The Watchman is deployed through a vein in the right leg where the pouch is and it plugs the opening. "Blocking off this pouch is as good as, if not more effective, than taking the blood thinner Warfarin, which is the only other option that many of these patients have," said Dr. Shephal Doshi with the Pacific Heart Institute.<br /><br />Doshi started the first clinical trial seven years ago. The procedure may not be for everyone with an irregular heartbeat, but it's another option that can be life changing for so many.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: &quot;helvetica neue&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Credits:</span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Hashem Al-Ghaili</span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Science age</span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Sciencenature/FB page</span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Sciencedaily</span>Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-79498137377916760942016-09-15T13:43:00.002-07:002016-09-15T13:43:51.884-07:00Let us go back in time- Let's go natural.<div style="border: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: 'Source Serif Pro', serif; font-size: 2.1rem; line-height: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; margin-top: 3.2rem; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1KFZS4jRm3k/V9sHeTrse-I/AAAAAAAAHpE/4DELwQPuYQUnXCp3McxJz7z7_wnLlzDYQCLcB/s1600/7acefe2b5b24453125774d72f3a30d67.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1KFZS4jRm3k/V9sHeTrse-I/AAAAAAAAHpE/4DELwQPuYQUnXCp3McxJz7z7_wnLlzDYQCLcB/s1600/7acefe2b5b24453125774d72f3a30d67.jpg" /></a></div><br />Yes this post of mine is not around <b>Healthcare Marketing, Digital Innovation or Community Health programs</b>.<br /><br />I thought to write about this particular topic after studying trends related to people's ill health and the food we eat, the cosmetics we use and the bad additives that have done enough bad to us already. I remember those times when my Grandma used to mix Glycerine with rose water and it used to be our skin care staple for winters. Dry some Indian gooseberry and heat it up with home made coconut oil to get luscious locks.<br /><br /><b><i><u>Things were simple, fresh and homemade.</u></i></b> Now Grandma is long gone and we are buying such products off the shelf knowing little about additives like mineral oil, LLP (Light Liquid Paraffin Oil ), perfumery compounds, preservatives and what not.People who have no connect to the cosmetics and food industry know very little about such compounds and need to be educated. For them a good brand name like Bajaj, Dabur or Patanjali serves the purpose. However, it is time that we take our home shopping a bit more seriously. The question is how? How many of us read labels? Do we have the time to?<br /><br />Well, we have to make time. Our kids are suffering from rashes, baldness, premature greying and severe health problems. Mineral oils used in hair oils are associated with Cancer. Most of the commercially available hair care products today use harmful, potentially carcinogenic ingredients. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3ahVM-3G0Fc/V9sHr6QaRnI/AAAAAAAAHpI/9-f0gikz6vgBziJlkRSDG0BvaGwY1FldQCLcB/s1600/toxic%252Bcosmetics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3ahVM-3G0Fc/V9sHr6QaRnI/AAAAAAAAHpI/9-f0gikz6vgBziJlkRSDG0BvaGwY1FldQCLcB/s200/toxic%252Bcosmetics.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>I was surprised to see that almost all hair products my sister was using lately had POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL (PPG/PEG) and Formaldehyde (probable carcinogen and irritant found in nail products, hair dye, fake eyelash adhesives, shampoos) in them.<br /><br />Well, labels on cosmetics and body care products are a tough code to crack. The industry is so shockingly unregulated that it’s usually impossible to trust the claims that manufacturers place on their products.A word such as “natural” can be used by anyone for anything. Even “organic” is misleading. Companies are supposed to use an organic label only if all ingredients are certified-organic, but they can also say it’s “made with organic” if it contains a minimum of 70 percent certified-organic ingredients. Plus half of the chemicals are not tested, not listed and never discussed.<br /><br /><b>Hydroquinone</b>: Asians are crazy about lightening creams-you will find this in most of these creams. Rated most toxic on several databases, and linked to cancer and reproductive toxicity.<br /><br /><b>Lead</b>: Known carcinogen found in lipstick and hair dye, but never listed because it’s a contaminant, not an ingredient.<br /><br /><b>Parabens:</b> Used as preservatives, found in many products. Linked to cancer, endocrine disruption, reproductive toxicity.<br /><br /><b>Paraphenylenediamine (PPD)</b>: Used in hair products and dyes, but toxic to skin and immune system.<br /><br /><b>Phthalates:</b> Plasticizers banned in the EU and California in children’s toys, but present in many fragrances, perfumes, deodorants, lotions. Linked to endocrine disruption, liver/kidney/lung damage, cancer.<br /><br /><b>Mercury:</b> Known allergen that impairs brain development. Found in mascara that asians are again crazy about.<br /><br /><b>Mineral oil: </b>By-product of petroleum that’s used in baby oil, hair oil, moisturisers, styling gels. It creates a film that impairs the skin’s ability to release toxins.<br /><br /><b>Oxybenzone:</b> Active ingredient in chemical sunscreens that accumulates in fatty tissues and is linked to allergies, hormone disruption, cellular damage, low birth weight.<br /><br /><b>Placental extract: </b>Used in some skin and hair products, but linked to endocrine disruption.<br /><br /><b>Polyethylene glycol (PEG)</b>: Penetration enhancer used in many products, it’s often contaminated with 1,4-dioxane and ethylene oxide, both known carcinogens.<br /><br /><b>Silicone-derived emollients</b>: Used to make a product feel soft, these don’t biodegrade, and also prevent skin from breathing. Linked to tumour growth and skin irritation.<br /><br /><b>Sodium lauryl (ether) sulfate (SLS, SLES)</b>: A former industrial degreaser now used to make soap foamy, it’s absorbed into the body and irritates skin.<br /><br />And this is a long list....<br /><br /><h4><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Sources:<br />http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4387693/, http://www.treehugger.com/organic-beauty/20-toxic-ingredients-avoid-when-buying-body-care-products-and-cosmetics.html<br />The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), based in Atlanta, Georgia, is a federal public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov<br />http://naturalhaireverything.tumblr.com/post/3253973196/10-ingredients-to-avoid-putting-on-your-hair, http://thehairoine.com/pages/chemicals-to-avoid<br />http://www.livestrong.com/article/171916-ingredients-to-avoid-in-hair-products/<br />http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4387693/<br />http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/top-tips-for-safer-products/<br />http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/31850421/study-links-toxic-chemicals-to-black-hair-care-products<br />Image: So Malicious</span></span></h4>Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-3015639832969006742016-09-07T10:11:00.000-07:002016-09-07T10:11:13.288-07:00Are you a Healthcare Innovator? Join the Partnership at IPIHD<div style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); counter-reset: list-1 0; font-family: 'Source Serif Pro', serif; font-size: 2.1rem; line-height: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pljrfIQLZtQ/V9BKAgyhakI/AAAAAAAAHjE/M1yrUBOg59QlAvOBkjMH9dXbtvJoXGBpgCLcB/s1600/SEAD%2BTeam%2Bphoto.3a41b85c-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pljrfIQLZtQ/V9BKAgyhakI/AAAAAAAAHjE/M1yrUBOg59QlAvOBkjMH9dXbtvJoXGBpgCLcB/s640/SEAD%2BTeam%2Bphoto.3a41b85c-2.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div>Innovations in Healthcare (founded as the International Partnership for Innovative Healthcare Delivery) is a nonprofit organization hosted by Duke University and founded in 2011 by Duke Health, McKinsey &amp; Company, and the World Economic Forum. I am an IPIHD innovator myself and the learnings I had not only assessing my own innovations but engaging with other innovators is impeccable. At the heart of Innovations in Healthcare is our network of 60+ innovators from around the world working to expand access to affordable, quality healthcare. Every year, IPIHD identifies and recruit entrepreneurs with promising models of healthcare to apply to join their network as innovators. Through a highly competitive process, they then select the best organizations to join them. They help connect these innovators with opportunities, information, and contacts they need to scale up their work.<br /><br /><b>Nominations are open and the deadline is 16th September 2016.</b> Do you know an organization that wants to be part of a global network of entrepreneurs working to innovate new solutions in healthcare? Would they like to connect with and be part of conversations about healthcare innovation with leading funders, corporations, academics, and other experts? <br /><br />If so, recommend an organization to join our network! Again, the deadline for nominations is September 16th. You can nominate an organization you think should be in our network here: <a href="https://duke.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4OA6hxGc5uU6ANT">https://duke.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4OA6hxGc5uU6ANT</a><br /><br />Currently, our network is comprised of 67 healthcare innovators working across 49 countries. Through a competitive annual selection process, innovators are chosen to join our network based on their innovation, readiness to scale, and the financial sustainability of their approach. Last year, we received more than 160 nominations and selected the top 12 organizations from this pool.<br /><br />For more details about our network and selection process, please <a href="http://www.innovationsinhealthcare.org/apply-to-be-an-innovator">click here.</a><br /><br /><u>Questions? Please contact Logan Couce at logan.couce@duke.edu.</u><br /><br />We look to grow our network to include companies working in some of the geographies and health care areas listed below, as part of our efforts to scout for the best healthcare innovators globally:<br /><br />• Geographies of Focus: Brazil, Southern and West Africa, Southeast Asia, India, East Africa, Mexico<br /><br />• Type of Care Focus: population health management, chronic management for non-communicable diseases (especially as connected with primary care), healthcare financing models<br /><br /><b>What should innovators expect from here?</b><br /><br />Innovations in Healthcare has a two tiered selection process:<br /><br />• July 25th-September 16th, Nomination Period: Interested innovators can self-nominate through the short online form. Finalist candidates will be notified by October 1st.<br /><br />• October 1st-October 31st, Application Period: Finalist candidates submit more detailed applications. Internal and external review committees help to assess the finalists. Organizations selected to join our network will be notified in mid-December.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-37653204868956048862016-03-29T03:53:00.000-07:002016-04-07T20:46:06.122-07:00EdisonChallenge by GE Tech India- A Great experience<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">You may have come across sayings such as, “Nothing is permanent but Change.” Also a few others would say, “If Change was permanent, it would have stayed”. We evolve and so does our needs and priorities and in the Indian market it makes so much more sense because as a nation we yearn for access, empowerment and rights.</div><br /><br />Recently, growing attention has been devoted to the concept of “Open Innovation”, both in academia as well as in practice. Open innovation is “the use of purposive inflows and outflows of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and expand the markets for external use of innovation, respectively.” The concept has emerged from the belief that growth just like innovation has to be inclusive.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pw688FU6Y_4/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pw688FU6Y_4?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div><br />Recently, I was at the GE Edison Challenge venue in Bangalore, India where GE invited college/university students to showcase promising innovations that can aid in achieving these goals by a digital-physical solution across industries. The audience and mentor group came from the esteemed pool of GE scientists, leaders and engineers.<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CtKPWakge7c/VvpgazVmelI/AAAAAAAAHHY/wZjutXhXkYUP8TLqsPH3wqH-DlFl_wl7g/s1600/BeFunky%2BCollage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CtKPWakge7c/VvpgazVmelI/AAAAAAAAHHY/wZjutXhXkYUP8TLqsPH3wqH-DlFl_wl7g/s320/BeFunky%2BCollage.jpg" width="320" /></a>From the GE’s manifesto we learnt that GE believes that it’s impossible for any organization to have all the best ideas, and hence they strive to collaborate with experts and entrepreneurs everywhere who share the same passion to solve some of the world’s most pressing issues. <br /><br />As simple it may seem, I was astounded to see the enthusiasm and array of technology categories these students applied in.<br /><br />“Collaboration between academia and private sector is a necessity of our times”, states Ms. Sukla Chandra. She also highlights how GE’s Edison Challenge is helping bridge the gap and encouraging innovation.”<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><strong>DRISHTI- a wearable for blind population to assist in Navigation.</strong><br />Navigation in indoor environments is highly challenging for the severely visually impaired, particularly in spaces visited for the first time. Several solutions have been proposed to deal with this challenge. Although some of them have shown to be useful in real scenarios, they involve an important deployment effort or use artifacts that are not natural for blind users. Drishti (Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute) presented an indoor outdoor navigation system that was designed taking into consideration usability as the quality requirement to be maximized. This solution enables one to identify the position of a person and calculates the velocity and direction of his movements. Using this information, the system determines the user’s trajectory, locates possible obstacles in that route, and offers navigation information to the user.<br /><br /><strong>Health Category dominated with some really quirky innovations that were worth a consideration.</strong><br /><br /><strong>Here is a collage of the interesting ones:</strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QAJMp7-0ErQ/Vvph7jjqwLI/AAAAAAAAHHk/bwk_PQuQkyoaGzo5IO5BJXLl9iNnNWEjA/s1600/BeFunky%2BCollage2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QAJMp7-0ErQ/Vvph7jjqwLI/AAAAAAAAHHk/bwk_PQuQkyoaGzo5IO5BJXLl9iNnNWEjA/s320/BeFunky%2BCollage2.jpg" width="320" /></a>For patients suffering from respiratory diseases, an intelligent remote health monitoring system was proposed by Mesh Bees, Pondicherry Engineering College. The AndroLung app records breath sounds and sends the same to a cloud for diagnosis. Any audible noises associated with breathing as occasionally, wheezing or the gurgling caused by secretions in large airways are audible to the "naked" ear. Lung sounds, also called respiratory sounds or breath sounds, can be auscultated across the anterior and posterior chest walls with a stethoscope. Adventitious lung sounds are referenced as crackles (rales), wheezes (rhonchi), stridor and pleural rubs as well as voiced sounds that include egophony, bronchophony and whispered pectoriloquy. Descriptions and audio recordings for all of these sounds are available with several algorithms and as reference in medical guides. A prescription approval, modification and further course of treatment is advised based on the same.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WVK1fSJI208/VvpkLb3dvVI/AAAAAAAAHIA/Z9TCux14v9AHwpVlvHS8G2nEEcsFrOUXA/s1600/0001.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WVK1fSJI208/VvpkLb3dvVI/AAAAAAAAHIA/Z9TCux14v9AHwpVlvHS8G2nEEcsFrOUXA/s200/0001.png" width="188" /></a></div>For people suffering from disabilities and especially the ones that are dependent on wheel chair for movement and tend to spend a lot of time on it- the IIT Kharagpur team came out with an innovative solution. The wheel chair is equipped with Bio potential signal and Magneto Plethysmography (MPG) for Heart rate monitoring and other sensors as well.<br /><br />The 5 finalist teams of the GE ‪#‎EdisonChallenge 2016 were <b>Out of control</b> (Indian Institute of Science), <b>TechieCardia </b>(IIT Bombay), <b>Agaaz</b> (Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur, Rajasthan), <b>2Pi Radians</b> (R.V. College of Engineering) and<b> Flame</b> (Zakir Husain College of Engineering and Technology, AMU, Aligarh) and all of them battled it out for the win.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KeJnHOJwzxw/VvpimTqAptI/AAAAAAAAHHw/VIoS3Qr3uGoeenb-hbPBoFgWeI6IMu0Vw/s1600/CdvQV3sW8AEKSGl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KeJnHOJwzxw/VvpimTqAptI/AAAAAAAAHHw/VIoS3Qr3uGoeenb-hbPBoFgWeI6IMu0Vw/s400/CdvQV3sW8AEKSGl.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><b>Team FLAME from Zakir Husain College of Engineering and Technology (#‎ZHCET), AMU, </b>Aligarh presented an idea related to home health/ domestic checkup. The service delivery point is at home where blood testing is done without a prick and AI algorithms are applied. These algorithms are then deployed to the hardware (device). The solution also demonstrated smart data sharing and communication back and forth in the healthcare ecosystem. TEAM FLAME is the winner of #EdisonChallenge 2016.<br /><br />The idea also indicated a possible use of Predix platform from GE which is built on cloud foundry and is optimized for secure connectivity and analytics at scale - in the cloud and on the edge.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zNWpzzRLBpU/Vvpk8eJpEvI/AAAAAAAAHII/XAUEGDkSt2wJkS3I2P7ACg7m0u3LDIwrA/s1600/9.29.15-Blog-Post-Photo-Predix.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zNWpzzRLBpU/Vvpk8eJpEvI/AAAAAAAAHII/XAUEGDkSt2wJkS3I2P7ACg7m0u3LDIwrA/s320/9.29.15-Blog-Post-Photo-Predix.png" width="320" /></a></div>Predix is more than just cool new technology. It's a fundamental platform for the next kind of industrial company. - <b><i>Bill Ruh, SVP and Chief Digital Officer, GE Digital</i></b><br /><br />And then there were others to detect stroke (Team Chaperone, VIT University), fetal monitoring at the convenience of your home (Priceless brains, Madras Institute of Technology), data driven ICU tracking and alarm system (Order Zero, IIT Guwahati), safe and pure water system (NIT, Karnataka), digital health networks (Vikings, Manipal Institute of Technology) etc.<br /><br />Outside the health category the challenge also brought other sectors’ related innovations. Team TraFix, IIT Kharagpur, West Bengal presented a unique solution to control traffic congestion on roads. VSM, CMR Institute of Technology presented a solution on vehicle safety based on smart sensors placed on the bumper of the car that help initiate a trigger in cases of collision, accidents etc. and has been integrated with SOS/Ambulance on alert services. Ambulance is guided to the location via GPS system in the car.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V8ArHcclf-w/Vvpi2fUVAEI/AAAAAAAAHH0/ZpKZOmcjWKUH33Ebqj7_qyRZCN9O_2CyA/s1600/ge_edison_challenge-737x415.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V8ArHcclf-w/Vvpi2fUVAEI/AAAAAAAAHH0/ZpKZOmcjWKUH33Ebqj7_qyRZCN9O_2CyA/s320/ge_edison_challenge-737x415.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Team Out‐of‐Control from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore showcased a solution based on prediction analytics based algorithms that help reduce traffic congestion and mitigate jams. It also has an interesting incentive model and is coupled with short term active measures like ramp metering, dynamic speed limit control and adaptive traffic signal control. Team Out-of-control walked away with the runner up prize.<br /><br />Some of the ones that I personally like were around:<br /><br />• Digitally enabled farming (Agaaz, Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur, Rajasthan),<br />• Smart Gas (Green Tech, IIT Roorkee),<br />• Emission monitoring (NuaJoog Labs; National Institute of Technology Silchar), Smart Parking (Team Chrysalis, NIT Karnataka)<br />Special mention and Congratulations to the two winners of the 'Social Squad'- Team Phoenix, NIT Raipur and Team ArdIoT, NIT Durgapur.<br /><br />My Heartiest congratulations to the Team Flame and all others who participated for their valiant efforts and ingenuity throughout the course of GE’s #EdisonChallenge 2016!Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-14312248333329325522016-02-13T22:15:00.000-08:002016-02-13T22:16:17.650-08:00The Formula of Driver and Demand- Indian Startups story<div class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7Exj4UlGCvc/VsAbBLTAj9I/AAAAAAAAHBo/POLJ-k4nrSk/s1600/medicalwear-e1424262027582.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7Exj4UlGCvc/VsAbBLTAj9I/AAAAAAAAHBo/POLJ-k4nrSk/s200/medicalwear-e1424262027582.jpg" width="200" /></a><span lang="EN-US">The healthcare industry is currently experiencing change at an unprecedented rate. Change is not only occurring in the technology used in diagnostics and care delivery, but this change is so fundamental that it could, and likely will, fundamentally alter the business model of the industry. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Today we have fitness bands, healthcare apps, appointment schedulers, health chats and several such means to access healthcare but one thing that all of this does not necessarily correlate with high quality of care or better outcomes.</span></div><h3><span lang="EN-US"><b><i>We need to understand that “Not even a Ferrari will get us to our destination without a driver.”</i></b></span></h3><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Formula of Driver:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Driver =</b> (Need + Incentive) where;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Incentive =</b> (Value + Reward)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Need =</b> (Gap + Demand) <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">To define the best drivers, we need to first address the need. Need might not make economic or business sense but it is the best opportunity to leave an impact. No one remembers how much business a “Mughal-e-Azam” or “Usual suspects” did but everyone remembers that these were great movies with splendid performances.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">In India, we have several such needs today. A survey conducted by HCG on several pressing issues in the field of health and safety highlighted the following:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US">1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Women safety<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US">2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Elderly concierge services<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US">3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Child safety<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US">4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Personalized nutrition<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US">5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Health Insurance for OPD services<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US">6.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Cancer support/ early detection<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US">7.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Infertility<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US">8.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Fitness (scientifically monitored) and performance<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kww_Ckmp2fc/VsAbAL-ciaI/AAAAAAAAHBg/0nEQO8Ub2Uw/s1600/Women-security.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kww_Ckmp2fc/VsAbAL-ciaI/AAAAAAAAHBg/0nEQO8Ub2Uw/s320/Women-security.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"/> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"/> </v:formulas> <v:path o:extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect"/> <o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="t"/></v:shapetype><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_1" o:spid="_x0000_s1028" type="#_x0000_t75" style='position:absolute;margin-left:0;margin-top:-.05pt;width:119.7pt; height:82.5pt;z-index:251658240;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square; mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0;mso-wrap-distance-left:9pt; mso-wrap-distance-top:0;mso-wrap-distance-right:9pt; mso-wrap-distance-bottom:0;mso-position-horizontal:absolute; mso-position-horizontal-relative:text;mso-position-vertical:absolute; mso-position-vertical-relative:text;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0; mso-width-relative:page;mso-height-relative:page'> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/DRRUCH~1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.jpg" o:title=""/> <w:wrap type="square"/></v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">This list is not exhaustive. I don't need to look at statistics to confront the horrid truth. News stories of women from all over India being raped, beaten, killed are flashed across us day after day – and we all are aware of it. The fatal Nirbhaya gang-rape saw an outpouring on the streets of Delhi – protests decrying the fragile status of women in India. Candle light marches, editorials examining the patriarchal and sexist traditions of our country, an awakening on social media – even conversations on streets revolve around the night they cannot forget: the night that took Nirbhaya. We need to do something about women safety. Devices, trackers, processes, helplines- whatever little or more we can do. <b><u>If you are an innovator in this area, please get in touch with me.<o:p></o:p></u></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_2" o:spid="_x0000_s1027" type="#_x0000_t75" style='position:absolute;margin-left:0;margin-top:0; width:113.1pt;height:104.4pt;z-index:251659264;visibility:visible; mso-wrap-style:square;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0; mso-wrap-distance-left:9pt;mso-wrap-distance-top:0;mso-wrap-distance-right:9pt; mso-wrap-distance-bottom:0;mso-position-horizontal:absolute; mso-position-horizontal-relative:text;mso-position-vertical:absolute; mso-position-vertical-relative:text;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0; mso-width-relative:page;mso-height-relative:page'> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/DRRUCH~1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image003.png" o:title=""/> <w:wrap type="square"/></v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">For elderly even small accidents can be deadly. While simple falls, such as slipping while walking off </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kM33gbkbqFI/VsAbAGKMM0I/AAAAAAAAHBc/OAovsnM0iqY/s1600/fall.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kM33gbkbqFI/VsAbAGKMM0I/AAAAAAAAHBc/OAovsnM0iqY/s200/fall.png" width="200" /></a></div>a curb, may seem relatively harmless, they can actually lead to severe injury and death in elderly individuals, according to a new study published in The Journal of Trauma: Injury, Infection, and Critical Care. As the population continues to age, it is important for physicians and caregivers to be aware of and prepared to deal with this issue, which could significantly impact the overall health and well-being of older adults.&nbsp; In addition to it, low blood pressure, low blood sugar, heart attack and other things can be very worrisome and need constant monitoring. Innovators call to action here is to come out create and raise awareness about such bracelets, devices and jewelry that can be adorned for a purpose.<o:p></o:p><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sExPKVgwaX8/VsAbAAfi_dI/AAAAAAAAHBY/SPhr6SMrHK4/s1600/heart-rate-Training_Zone_Diagram-e1435117790419.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sExPKVgwaX8/VsAbAAfi_dI/AAAAAAAAHBY/SPhr6SMrHK4/s400/heart-rate-Training_Zone_Diagram-e1435117790419.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_3" o:spid="_x0000_s1026" type="#_x0000_t75" style='position:absolute;margin-left:0;margin-top:0; width:266.4pt;height:109.5pt;z-index:251660288;visibility:visible; mso-wrap-style:square;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0; mso-wrap-distance-left:9pt;mso-wrap-distance-top:0;mso-wrap-distance-right:9pt; mso-wrap-distance-bottom:0;mso-position-horizontal:absolute; mso-position-horizontal-relative:text;mso-position-vertical:absolute; mso-position-vertical-relative:text;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0; mso-width-relative:page;mso-height-relative:page'> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/DRRUCH~1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image005.jpg" o:title=""/> <w:wrap type="square"/></v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Without calorie count possible, limited heart rate tracking and availability of other vitals; performance management and fitness efforts are less effective. Measuring your heart rate using a heart rate monitor is a good way to gauge the effectiveness of your workout because as you strengthen your body through exercise, you also strengthen your heart. Measuring the rate of your heart during exercise can help you determine when you're pushing your body too hard or need to push it harder to achieve the level of fitness you are seeking.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UjKLBTESs-A/VsAbA_1QheI/AAAAAAAAHBk/NPi0j_cDqWU/s1600/medical-device-e1444062447678.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UjKLBTESs-A/VsAbA_1QheI/AAAAAAAAHBk/NPi0j_cDqWU/s200/medical-device-e1444062447678.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I love the work <a href="http://www.hexoskin.com/">Hexoskin</a> and <a href="http://www.kenzenwear.com/">Kenzen</a> are doing. I am looking for something more affordable and focused for Indian market.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Health tech is blazing hot right now and there's no shortage of companies working on innovative products designed to change the face of healthcare as we know it. That's a good thing, considering Indians are as unfit as ever and bureaucracy continues to muck things up for physicians and patients alike. As technology evolves, it could upend some of these problems. One thing that's certain: Consumer-driven healthcare is coming. And these companies are helping make it happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">All the best!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph"><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-33303146190362990382015-12-19T08:30:00.000-08:002015-12-23T22:38:23.355-08:00Leveraging Cloud Technology in Healthcare- The Indian Tweetathon<div style="text-align: justify;">Digitization of health information is soaring, particularly in the areas of electronic health records (EHRs), storage of images, e-prescriptions, patient admissions, registration, and scheduling. The health industry is adopting new care models such as value-based care to enable more targeted and preventative care. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Real time and predictive analytics, improved management and security and enhanced decision making through enterprise grade devices empowered by the cloud is helping healthcare enterprises #Reimagine </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">• their internal operations and make it more efficient </div><div style="text-align: justify;">• their service delivery and improve the quality of patient care </div><div style="text-align: justify;">• their costs by reducing the cost of ownership.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EAlICUYkGWk/VnV_iv5vX9I/AAAAAAAAG64/wq3WtizgLww/s1600/resize.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="160" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EAlICUYkGWk/VnV_iv5vX9I/AAAAAAAAG64/wq3WtizgLww/s320/resize.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On 17th December, we organized a tweet-a-thon amongst&nbsp;Microsoft India and Industry thought leaders. We&nbsp;tried to highlight the role of&nbsp;technology - specifically cloud computing in Healthcare. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Doctors, Providers, Software vendors, HIT experts and KOLs from the industry participated and the Tweet-a-thon gathered over 11 million impressions.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This encapsulated some of the technological trends and changes in the healthcare industry, benefits of moving to the cloud, why healthcare is/should be embracing the cloud etc.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EDKFW16nHA4/VnWpZ9ocCcI/AAAAAAAAG7k/2zacXT2gsGQ/s1600/Hello.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="466" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EDKFW16nHA4/VnWpZ9ocCcI/AAAAAAAAG7k/2zacXT2gsGQ/s640/Hello.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here are the highlights of some of the questions asked and answered during the tweet-a-thon. Also please don’t miss the case studies highlighting how Indian hospitals are using cloud technology to provide to undertake epidemiological studies, clinical research, provide quality care and support public health efforts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7988CMvJ6Jc/VnV_h7JLE7I/AAAAAAAAG7A/mJyTPnHP304/s1600/poll.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="404" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7988CMvJ6Jc/VnV_h7JLE7I/AAAAAAAAG7A/mJyTPnHP304/s640/poll.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">@RHYD007 How is Fortis leveraging cloud tech at point of care? #Reimagine</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">@healthemerge Wat is the incentive for LVPRASAD to move to cloud? Which companies help comprehend critical healthcare data in INDIA? #ReImagine @drruchidass</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">@SMobilestaff Doc @drruchibhatt Hospitals in India were never ready to share data with each other- how will they agree to cloud? #Reimagine</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">@alishervani How can cloud increase availability of healthcare services in our rural areas? @drruchibhatt #Reimagine #cloud</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">@bioingine @drruchibhatt #Reimagine Healthcare - regarding the anonymization of the health data - is there any health policy to protect the health data</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">@bioingine @drruchibhatt #Reimagine Healthcare - is Indian govt leveraging cloud for public health studies</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">@PublicHealthIN1 Dr Dass why there was such a delay in adopting something this imp #cloud policy? or investment?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">@manavsahay Are Hospitals ready to share data and invest in cloud tech? #Reimagine @antonvipin @rfrancis888 @v_sood @drruchibhatt @TsyAravind</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">@sanwar1 @drruchibhatt @TsyAravind @antonvipin @rfrancis888 and how would this integrate with current HIS maintained by pvt hospitals? #ReImagine</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">@piykumar @drruchibhatt for analytics, data collection has to happen &amp; we see challenges in collecting data which can be analysed #Reimagine #India</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><u><a href="https://storify.com/HCITExpert/reimagine-tweetathon-with-drruchibhatt-mordernbizi?utm_content=storify-pingback&amp;utm_medium=sfy.co-twitter&amp;awesm=sfy.co_t12ew&amp;utm_campaign=&amp;utm_source=direct-sfy.co">More on Storify</a></u></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Case Studies:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--N-r7k3r4rk/VnWAPffxYoI/AAAAAAAAG7U/PkM6atJebDw/s1600/Fortis%2B%252Bmicrosoft.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--N-r7k3r4rk/VnWAPffxYoI/AAAAAAAAG7U/PkM6atJebDw/s400/Fortis%2B%252Bmicrosoft.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Fortis Hospitals Group, India</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Fortis hospitals is harnessing the power of the #cloud to #Reimagine diagnostic &amp; clinical care for all. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_x9yKnXADiA/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_x9yKnXADiA?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>LV Prasad Eye Hospitals, India</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Microsoft Azure is empowering the LV Prasad Eye Institute with advanced analytics and machine learning in delivering quality care.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NX3_t9T50EA/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NX3_t9T50EA?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b><u>Coming to the hospital is not enjoyable for people. If we can keep them out of it, that would be great. </u></b>We need to create a sustainable health system. India is gearing up to adopt cloud technology in Healthcare and leverage the knowledge that is still redundant and disconnected.An important strategy here is the development of the necessary models that showcase the benefits of cloud computing adoption to both healthcare providers and consumers.&nbsp;</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><blockquote class="tr_bq">This involves a continual examination and monitoring of the key technology factors in the context of the healthcare operating model.&nbsp;A truly ubiquitous transformation of health can only happen if even more health organizations take advantage of the powerful opportunities offered by advanced analytics and machine learning powered by the cloud.</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>More on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/predictive-analytics-breast-cancer-dr-ruchi-dass?trk=prof-post">Predictive Analytics and its applied&gt;&gt;</a></b><br /><b>More on <a href="http://enterprise.microsoft.com/en-us/industries/health/">Microsoft in Healthcare&gt;&gt;</a></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Resources:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">http://blogs.msdn.com/b/healthblog/</div><div style="text-align: justify;">http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/health/default.aspx#fbid=ccM35HLcu-Q</div><div style="text-align: justify;">http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/health/solutions/cloud/default.aspx#fbid=ccM35HLcu-Q</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-43438844536418700962015-10-20T09:35:00.000-07:002015-10-20T09:35:33.496-07:00Investor red flags- always logical?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wt5agtPWm40/ViZsQcUcukI/AAAAAAAAGzU/y-v1kTMZkCY/s1600/Maturing-Egg-Hatching-into-Chicken-Progression-cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wt5agtPWm40/ViZsQcUcukI/AAAAAAAAGzU/y-v1kTMZkCY/s640/Maturing-Egg-Hatching-into-Chicken-Progression-cropped.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>A few of my interns recently did a brain-storming session with me. They were all enthusiastic to do something of their own and had many questions. Many of them I met at several accelerator competitions and hackathons. <o:p></o:p><br /><br />I am not an authority or a VC. So far, I have invested in 9 companies globally- all in healthcare or education. One thing that I have come across in almost every transaction is when seed funded companies go for Series A- <b>Investor raise red-flags </b>about <o:p></o:p><br /><br />1. Recurring revenue <o:p></o:p><br />2. Team <o:p></o:p><br />3. Valuation<o:p></o:p><br /><br /><b>One such situation came in today when I was asked How do you anticipate growth of 15%-20% YOY when in a force of 200 employees you have only 5 sales guys and 2 marketing people. What are you relying on? Most start-ups find it hard to answer such a question.</b><o:p></o:p><br /><br />When you cannot rely on sales and marketing to be your driver of growth, you rely on your customer to be your driver of growth. Hence when the service&nbsp;and the product keep evolving imparting better and sustained value- one needs to rely less on marketing. I think it actually builds a much deeper foundation when you don’t rely on a very large sales and marketing team to get your brand out.<o:p></o:p><br /><br /><b>This MIT guy asked me-&nbsp;How would you measure the value of a company? Especially, a company that you started a month ago – how do you determine start-up valuation?</b><o:p></o:p><br /><br />My answer was simple Valuation need not show the true value of the company. Actually what it defines is about investor share in the company. &nbsp;At the time of investment, valuation is the core determinant of return for investors. In other words, the return to investors is based on the increase in the valuation of shares they receive in exchange for their capital. Understanding valuation is critical to successful investing. Unfortunately, valuation is the most misunderstood part of the investment process and often leads to contentious negotiations that get the entrepreneur investor relationship off on the wrong foot.Valuation depends on how much money you need to say run 3 pilots and have 8-12 months of runway. As an Investor, I expect growth in 18 months.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uxYsLSJ_Zcs/ViZsd1t7EiI/AAAAAAAAGzc/JFakCFxvXGs/s1600/000_angel_tech_investors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uxYsLSJ_Zcs/ViZsd1t7EiI/AAAAAAAAGzc/JFakCFxvXGs/s320/000_angel_tech_investors.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Valuation matters to entrepreneurs because it determines the share of the company they have to give away to an investor in exchange for money.&nbsp; At the early stage the value of the company is close to zero, but the valuation has to be a lot higher than that. Why? Let’s say you are looking for a seed investment of around $100, 000 in exchange for about 10% of your company. Typical deal. Your pre-money valuation will be $ 1 million. This however, does not mean that your company is worth $1 million now. You probably could not sell it for that amount. Valuation at the early stages is a lot about the growth potential, as opposed to the present value.<o:p></o:p><br /><br />The biggest determinant of your startup’s value are the market forces of the industry &amp; sector in which it plays, which include the balance (or imbalance) between demand and supply of money, the recency and size of recent exits, the willingness for an investor to pay a premium to get into a deal, and the level of desperation of the entrepreneur looking for money.<br /><br /><b>The follow-up questions was- Does valuation also depend on who you are taking money from? </b>- I laughed it out. The answer to that is a big "YES" - we all know that.<o:p></o:p><br /><b><br /></b><b>We have an acquisition offer from a large hospital chain- Tim said- they are interested in Acqui-Hire- Should we take it? How to decide between getting acquired and acqui-hire.</b><o:p></o:p><br /><br />Well. It depends on how your company is doing? Acqui-Hire is offered when you have a great team together but product isn't going anywhere. Acquisition is the best move when we realise that the product has traction, but the company does not generate enough revenue to qualify for an IPO.<o:p></o:p><br /><br /><b>And last but not least- What does an Angel like me look for returns?</b><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3wsi5v854OA/ViZrlZbk6xI/AAAAAAAAGzM/LFjKN5DlcUY/s1600/Picture2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3wsi5v854OA/ViZrlZbk6xI/AAAAAAAAGzM/LFjKN5DlcUY/s1600/Picture2.jpg" /></a></div>Some angels target 5x to 10x ROI (cash-on-cash return on their investment)&nbsp;in four to eight years, which yields an internal&nbsp;rate of return of between 25 and 75 percent.&nbsp;(In the accompanying table, the target numbers&nbsp;assume that divergence of between 3x and 5x&nbsp;times is factored in.) Other angels simply target&nbsp;30x ROI without divergence. The two approaches are effectively equivalent:<br /><br />If you assume 4x divergence (the midpoint between the expected range of 3x to 5x) and multiply that by a return of 7.5x (midway between the 5x and 10x range), then you get 30x, which factors in divergence. These rules of thumb are not sacrosanct; they reflect two common approaches.<br /><br /><b>Divergence:</b><br />Divergence is the difference between the growth rate of the company’s valuation and the<br />valuation of the shares investors receive due to dilution by subsequent investors and other factors. <u>Even in successful ventures, divergence, in fact, tends to be between 3x and 5x.</u><br />A simple example may help make the point: An investor funds at a $4-million post-money valuation and receives shares valued at $2 each. The company is sold in five years for $60 million, which is a 15x increase in company valuation. Due to dilution, however, the value of the investor’s shares will almost certainly not have increased 15x to $30 per share. They might instead have increased only 3x to $6 per share. In this example, the increased valuation of 15x divided by the increase in the investor’s share value of 3x demonstrates a 5x divergence.<br /><br />A startup company’s value, as I mentioned earlier, is largely dictated by the market forces in the industry in which it operates. Specifically, the current value is dictated by the market forces in play TODAY and TODAY’S perception of what the future will bring.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zOeUG0L76AI/ViZs8iGLaWI/AAAAAAAAGzk/Ay8ErtOsM5E/s1600/M2M_7395%2B%25284%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zOeUG0L76AI/ViZs8iGLaWI/AAAAAAAAGzk/Ay8ErtOsM5E/s200/M2M_7395%2B%25284%2529.JPG" width="155" /></a>Effectively this means, on the downside, that if your company is operating in a space where the market for your industry is depressed and the outlook for the future isn’t any good either (regardless of what you are doing), then clearly what an investor is willing to pay for the company’s equity is going to be substantially reduced in spite of whatever successes the company is currently having (or will have) unless the investor is either privy to information about a potential market shift in the future, or is just willing to take the risk that the company will be able to shift the market.<br /><br />Therefore, when an early stage investor is trying to determine whether to make an investment in a company (and as a result what the appropriate valuation should be), what he basically does is gauge what the likely exit size will be for a company of your type and within the industry in which it plays, and then judges how much equity his fund should have in the company to reach his return on investment goal, relative to the amount of money he put into the company throughout the company’s lifetime.<br /><br />Comments welcome.<br /><br /><br /><br />Credits:<o:p></o:p><br />http://www.angelcapitalassociation.org/<br />http://seedcamp.com/resources/how-does-an-early-stage-investor-value-a-startup/<br />Ewing Marion Kauffman F Foundation<br />http://www.forbes.com/sites/mariannehudson/2015/03/06/the-art-of-valuing-a-startup/<br />http://articles.bplans.com/30-questions-angel-investors-will-ask-you/<br /><br /> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-47111115406989696882015-10-05T10:50:00.001-07:002015-12-28T08:11:32.586-08:00Dr. Ruchi Dass on Role of Analytics in Healthcare<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ivMoyOE20xU/VoFfJ3rYauI/AAAAAAAAG8Q/Q582s_0AA30/s1600/telehealth-banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ivMoyOE20xU/VoFfJ3rYauI/AAAAAAAAG8Q/Q582s_0AA30/s640/telehealth-banner.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Quick Snapshot of our work in the field of Analytics- shot at the Healthcare IT Summit, Mumbai, India. What do we do there with Predictive analytics tools- serious work!!<br /><br />Predictive analytics (PA) uses technology and statistical methods to search through massive amounts of information, analyzing it to predict outcomes for individual patients. That information can include data from past treatment outcomes as well as the latest medical research published in peer-reviewed journals and databases.<br /><br />In medicine, predictions can range from responses to medications to hospital readmission rates. Examples are predicting infections from methods of suturing; understanding Patient’s patterns, &nbsp;bias and compliance; &nbsp;determining the likelihood of disease, helping a physician with a diagnosis, and even predicting future wellness.<br /><br />The statistical methods are called learning models because they can grow in precision with additional cases. There are two major ways in which PA differs from traditional statistics (and from evidence-based medicine):<br /><br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>First, predictions are made for individuals and not for groups<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Second PA does not rely upon a normal (bell-shaped) curve.<br /><br />Prediction modelling uses techniques such as artificial intelligence to create a prediction profile (algorithm) from past individuals. The model is then "deployed" so that a new individual can get a prediction instantly for whatever the need is, whether a bank loan or an accurate diagnosis.<br /><br /><br />1. Help increase the accuracy of diagnoses.<br /><br />Physicians can use predictive algorithms to help them make more accurate diagnoses. For example, when patients come to the ER with chest pain, it is often difficult to know whether the patient should be hospitalized. If the doctors were able to answers questions about the patient and his condition into a system with a tested and accurate predictive algorithm that would assess the likelihood that the patient could be sent home safely, then their own clinical judgments would be aided. The prediction would not replace their judgments but rather would assist.<br /><br /><br />2. Helps preventive medicine and public health.<br /><br />With early intervention, many diseases can be prevented or ameliorated. Predictive analytics, particularly within the realm of genomics, will allow primary care physicians to identify at-risk patients within their practice. With that knowledge, patients can make lifestyle changes to avoid. As lifestyles change, population disease patterns may dramatically change with resulting savings in medical costs. With Predictive Analytics, our future medications would be more personalised because predictive analytics methods will be able to sort out what works for people with "similar subtypes and molecular pathways."<br /><br />3. Provides Physicians with intuitive insights planning treatment methodology for individual patients.<br /><br />Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is a step in the right direction and provides more help than simple hunches for physicians. However, what works best for the middle of a normal distribution of people may not work best for an individual patient seeking treatment. PA can help doctors decide the exact treatments for those individuals. It is wasteful and potentially dangerous to give treatments that are not needed or that won't work specifically for an individual. Better diagnoses and more targeted treatments will naturally lead to increases in good outcomes and fewer resources used, including the doctor's time.<br /><br />4. Provide employers and providers with predictions concerning insurance product costs.<br /><br />Employers providing healthcare benefits for employees can input characteristics of their workforce into a predictive analytic algorithm to obtain predictions of future medical costs. Predictions can be based upon the company's own data or the company may work with insurance providers who also have their own databases in order to generate the prediction algorithms. Companies and hospitals, working with insurance providers, can synchronize databases and actuarial tables to build models and subsequent health plans. Employers might also use predictive analytics to determine which providers may give them the most effective products for their particular needs. Built into the models would be the specific business characteristics. For example, if it is discovered that the average employee visits a primary care physician six times a year, those metrics can be included in the model.<br /><br />5. Helps researchers develop with even lesser data that can become more accurate over time.<br /><br />In huge population studies, even very small differences can be "statistically significant." Researchers understand that randomly assigned case control studies are superior to observational studies, but often it is simply not feasible to carry out such a design. From huge observational studies, the small but statistically significant differences are often not clinically significant.<br />For example, small to moderate alcohol consumption by women can result in higher levels of certain cancers. Many news programs and newspapers loudly and erroneously warned women not to drink even one alcoholic drink per day.<br /><br />In contrast with predictive analytics, initial models in can be generated with smaller numbers of cases and then the accuracy of such may be improved over time with increased cases.<br /><br />6. Helps Pharmaceutical companies to plan and best meet the needs of medications for the masses.<br /><br />There will be incentives for the pharmaceutical industry to develop medications for ever smaller groups. Old medications, dropped because they were not used by the masses, may be brought back because drug companies will find it economically feasible to do so. In other words, previous big bulk medications are certain to be used less if they are found not to help many of those who were prescribed them. Less used medications will be economically lucrative to revive and develop as research is able to predict those who might benefit from them. For example, if 25,000 people need to be treated with a medication "shotgun-style" in order to save 10 people, then much waste has occurred. All medications have unwanted side effects. The shotgun-style delivery method can expose patients to those risks unnecessarily if the medication is not needed for them.<br /><br />7. Leads to better Patient outcomes.<br /><br />There will be many benefits in quality of life to patients as the use of predictive analytics increase. Potentially individuals will receive treatments that will work for them, be prescribed medications that work for them and not be given unnecessary medications just because that medication works for the majority of people. The patient role will change as patients become more informed consumers who work with their physicians collaboratively to achieve better outcomes. Patients will become aware of possible personal health risks sooner due to alerts from their genome analysis, from predictive models relayed by their physicians, from the increasing use of apps and medical devices (i.e., wearable devices and monitoring systems), and due to better accuracy of what information is needed for accurate predictions.<br /><br />Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-11147436090694632172015-09-08T00:43:00.001-07:002016-09-12T10:02:57.167-07:00Driving Innovation the GE way- GETech Mela Coverage<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><h4><i style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">‘Reverse innovation,’ a principle well established in the business world, describes the flow of ideas from emerging to more developed economies. Reverse innovation refers to the process of first identifying and/or fostering a successful innovation in a LIC that addresses an unmet need in a HIC, then adapting and spreading the innovation from the LIC to the HIC. It is, in a nutshell, learning from and investing in poorer settings as one way to tackle problems in wealthier settings that require out-of-the-box solutions.</span></i></h4></div></div><div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KxNI8XMRRY8/Ve6RZFTqYjI/AAAAAAAAGuc/KhjcPofLUiA/s1600/11035933_574802032658671_4738848250551753713_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KxNI8XMRRY8/Ve6RZFTqYjI/AAAAAAAAGuc/KhjcPofLUiA/s320/11035933_574802032658671_4738848250551753713_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EdMB0RJgS3w/Ve6NfF3i0rI/AAAAAAAAGuM/Sm9vl4b6whc/s1600/mac800_upgrade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EdMB0RJgS3w/Ve6NfF3i0rI/AAAAAAAAGuM/Sm9vl4b6whc/s320/mac800_upgrade.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><br /><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The realization that the American health care system must simultaneously decrease per-capita cost and increase quality has created the opportunity for the United States to learn from low- and middle-income countries.<span style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span><span style="text-align: justify;">At GE Tech Mela, I came across GE's Stripped-down, portable ECG machine- GE Healthcare's MAC i is an ultra-portable, battery-operated electrocardiogram machine, designed for use in rural clinics in India, where mains electricity is either intermittent or non-existent. The cost is only 25,000 rupees (£320). It is a boon for the Indian market where electricity and primary healthcare access is a big problem.</span></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The concept of <b><i>Reverse Innovation and Glocalisation (Global- Local)</i></b> is not new to GE. In 2010, I came across a dual-slice computed tomography imaging system called HiSpeed Dual with GE. It was the first CT system that the health care arm of U.S. conglomerate General Electric had made in India, and the first high-end CT imaging system that anyone had made in the country.&nbsp;GE Healthcare had previously imported the system for Indian customers. By manufacturing it in Bangalore, GE Healthcare cut the price by 10% and &nbsp;reduced an 8- to 10-week waiting period as well.</span><br /><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Mr Shyam Rajan, CTO, GE Healthcare has contributed significantly over the last two decades towards the development of Maternal and Infant Care products such as infant warmers, incubators, and phototherapy equipment. He is a firm believer that “low cost” does not translate to “low technology”, and that the opposite can often be true.</span><br /><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gbB4eN6_DAg/Ve6TQoxhoNI/AAAAAAAAGuo/j_J1O5114Dc/s1600/CONhTaJUEAAM5gW.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gbB4eN6_DAg/Ve6TQoxhoNI/AAAAAAAAGuo/j_J1O5114Dc/s400/CONhTaJUEAAM5gW.png" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3Lahs_PnE5I/Ve6NzRU7XMI/AAAAAAAAGuQ/SH3g1XZOgP0/s1600/M2M_7424%2B-%2BCopy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3Lahs_PnE5I/Ve6NzRU7XMI/AAAAAAAAGuQ/SH3g1XZOgP0/s200/M2M_7424%2B-%2BCopy.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">I was at the Healthcare Pavilion called&nbsp;<b>"Odyssey Hospital"</b>&nbsp;that showcased GE Heathcare's key capabilities and solutions in an integrated manner. A mini hospital prototype enacting GE touch points at every level.</span><br /><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with him as I have used most of the portable devices on the ground especially while I was involved with WHO’s PMNCH program on Mother and child health. We hit off a banter when I realised how value packed their offerings are keeping in mind insights they derived from the ground and real life challenges.</span><br /><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">I also interacted with Mr. Munesh Makhija, Managing Director, GE India Technology Centre Chief Technology Officer, GE South Asia.</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hiWkn0tSr28/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hiWkn0tSr28?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div><div><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Munesh and myself talked at length about GE Superheroes, the concept of organizing Tech Mela every year, GE's vision and how they celebrate everything they do.</span></div><div><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">It was a power-packed day and definitely a weekend well spent. You can catch up on more moments at #TechMela on Twitter handle @GE_ITC or take a look at this infograph that reiterates the vision- “<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/GE_India/ge-reiterates-its-commitment-to-design-make-in-india-52449008" rel="nofollow" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Design and Make in India</a>”.</span></div></div></div>Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-70347842572216981002014-10-21T04:20:00.001-07:002014-10-21T04:20:37.344-07:00Healthcare On Mobiles: Women Achievers in Information technology 2014<a href="http://healthcareindia-drruchibhatt.blogspot.com/2014/09/women-achievers-in-information.html?spref=bl">Healthcare On Mobiles: Women Achievers in Information technology 2014</a>: I feel proud when my name is included with the leading ladies in India today- Facebook, Walmart, Amazon and others. I however feel equally concerned about the future of IT in India.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rEKUlEpmrGw/VEZBcTWIQAI/AAAAAAAAGB4/7AYWFNou-1I/s1600/Fotor0912171622.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rEKUlEpmrGw/VEZBcTWIQAI/AAAAAAAAGB4/7AYWFNou-1I/s1600/Fotor0912171622.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>While I represented as the only lady to represent the healthcare industry, it is indeed a truth and a realization that we need much more of IT across industries. At INTEROP, I had the privilege to meet with Prof F. C Kohli. "Those were the days when we were provided with Russian computers. These computers used to heat up after every 4-5 hours and then we had to shut them down and let them cool off before we can use them again", said Mr F. C Kohli recalling his initail days toying with these machines called Personal computers then.Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-70855971139586561392014-09-12T04:55:00.001-07:002014-09-12T04:55:10.277-07:00Women Achievers in Information technology 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bSR04qP0P9Q/VBLdX8tOt3I/AAAAAAAAF5I/5RERhrBMz4c/s1600/dsc_0173.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bSR04qP0P9Q/VBLdX8tOt3I/AAAAAAAAF5I/5RERhrBMz4c/s1600/dsc_0173.jpg" height="212" width="640" /></a></div>I feel proud when my name is included with the leading ladies in India today- Facebook, Walmart, Amazon and others. I however feel equally concerned about the future of IT in India. While I represented as the only lady to represent the healthcare industry, it is indeed a truth and a realization that we need much more of IT across industries.<br /><br />At INTEROP, I had the privilege to meet with <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._C._Kohli">Prof F. C Kohli</a>.&nbsp;</b><b>"Those were the days when we were provided with Russian computers. These computers used to heat up after every 4-5 hours and then we had to shut them down and let them cool off before we can use them again"</b>, said Mr F. C Kohli recalling his initail days toying with these machines called Personal computers then.<br /><br />Those who have never heard his name- Well! Prof. F. C . Kohli&nbsp;is frequently referred to as the&nbsp;<i><b>Father of the Indian Software Industry</b></i>&nbsp;due to his significant contribution in Indian IT industry.&nbsp;Padma Bhushan, Faqir Chand Kohli completed 90, on March 19, 2014. It was a day to celebrate for many Indians whose life he has touched directly or indirectly.&nbsp;A workaholic, who scoffs at the concept of retirement and fading into the sunset and is deeply engaged in using technology and systems approach to solving societal problems at 90!<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Mr Kohli&nbsp;continues to be proactive, focusing his energies on education. His current efforts are around using computer aided sounds and images to impart basic literacy, particularly to illiterate adults, in a matter of months.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cpk4INV0aQ4/VBLcBG9OJ6I/AAAAAAAAF5A/YF13dGDwzWs/s1600/20140905_120137.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cpk4INV0aQ4/VBLcBG9OJ6I/AAAAAAAAF5A/YF13dGDwzWs/s1600/20140905_120137.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">I clicked a Selfie and Yes, I was lucky! It was "Teacher's Day" and I got this opportunity to be blessed by him as a "Woman Achiever in IT". Information Technology isn't that old in the country. I still remember my First Personal computer- Bulky with Cassette and Floppy drives!<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The 1980s liberalization of the Indian informatics industry took place in the context of continued high levels of state involvement, but there was evidence that the character of that involvement was changing.In 1991 the Department of Electronics broke this impasse, creating a corporation called Software Technology Parks of India&nbsp;(STPI) that, being owned by the government, could provide VSAT communications without breaching its monopoly. STPI set up software technology parks in different cities, each of which provided satellite links to be used by firms; the local link was a wireless radio link. In 1993 the government began to allow individual companies their own dedicated links, which allowed work done in India to be transmitted abroad directly. Indian firms soon convinced their American customers that a satellite link was as reliable as a team of programmers working in the clients’ office.&nbsp;Today, advancements in IT has been of benefit in creating more jobs in India but the real revolution is yet to begin.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Those were the days. Quotes from Mr F.C Kohli:</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal">"When we started, the Indian software industry was primarily focused on exports and 40 years later, it still continues to be so. The domestic market accounts for only 15% of the software industry's $100 billion annual turnover. The country has too few computers. This is because there are no computers in Indian languages. China has computers in mandarin, but India, for historical reasons, has stuck with English. The computer is but a tool and Indians should be able to use this tool in their own language. You express your ideas best that way. Innovative thinking comes in your own language. After all these years of speaking in English, I still dream in my own language.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Most people in India seem to have been carried away by the spectacular success in IT services ($ 70 billion exports in 2012-13 according to RBI). A decade ago, some politicians even started calling India, quite prematurely, an 'IT Superpower', in their own inimitable style. However the man who started it all is far removed from such pompous statements. He has been painstakingly advocating that India cannot be a significant player on the global technology map without a developed hardware industry.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">He said, "Right now, India does not have a hardware industry. But we will have to develop one, once the computer reaches the masses. Using technology, I can go and make the small shopkeeper more efficient that a supermarket mall. A computer can handle a shop's supply chain management, from purchases to inventory control. It can bring down costs and collect customer data. In the USA, local shops don't necessarily close if WalMart&nbsp;comes to town. We need both."<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Highlights!!</b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X4JdeFy7bdY/VBLeIdxNX2I/AAAAAAAAF5Q/3AmHotpVXUQ/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X4JdeFy7bdY/VBLeIdxNX2I/AAAAAAAAF5Q/3AmHotpVXUQ/s1600/1.jpg" height="201" width="320" /></a><b>Ignoring your own produce-&nbsp;</b>There is a huge talent that we produce in India. Number of graduates- three million a year, about 450,000 are engineers; 600,000 and more are commerce graduates and 1.1 million from humanities. We have 95 agricultural colleges and 15 agricultural engineering colleges, where do they go? They are not in villages; they are not in agriculture, it means we are not interested in what we have produced.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Practically Illogical Industry-&nbsp;</b>‘What computer has done for the country? Almost all the software is exported, we have about $50-60 billion out of exports and $10 billion revenues from the indigenous market, out of that again half the software is from Microsoft, Oracle and others, which we import and sell. So if we really see, hardly any software (made and sold) within the country.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xhp1QSlPyQg/VBLeI7a2gkI/AAAAAAAAF5U/dB8zmbwzUug/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xhp1QSlPyQg/VBLeI7a2gkI/AAAAAAAAF5U/dB8zmbwzUug/s1600/3.jpg" height="261" width="320" /></a><b>If we are depending on IT, Do we have computer literacy?&nbsp;</b>Everybody is making profit by exporting software and who wants to dirty their hands and focus on India? It is not easy to develop software for India, we have 22 languages, China has 2, Saudi Arabia has only one i.e. Arabic, and so software finally has to be made in local languages like European do. Our states are bigger than the many European countries, so you can’t even say that everybody should learn one language, we also wants to keep the diversity because it is an asset.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Skewed Numbers-&nbsp;The limit is your imagination.-</b>&nbsp;If 900 million people of India becomes computer literate, than you need many more PCs than now, every year now, 6 million PCs are sold in India, which are imported or locally assembled. Then we need 25 million PCs a year, for that kind of number, we need indigenous hardware industries. We also need micro-electronics engineers for hardware industries, India is producing less 200 engineers and small country like Israel produces more than 1000 a year, when we will we be to produce 3000 to 5000 micro-electronic engineers?? Intel is having its design centre in Bangalore they are designing their 6 core chips here and not in the US.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The Indian IT industry is still young and the growth process is not going to stop anytime soon. It will certainly become more sophisticated. There will be new players, niche players, specializing in different applications. We are still doing a lot of lowend work for the global market, though we are also into some high-level development. The domestic market will also throw up low-end work. If you can't find growth avenues despite all this,<b>&nbsp;it is a managerial problem.</b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Source:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Interop Mumbai, debate and Keynote<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">IBNLIve-http://ibnlive.in.com/news/tribute-fc-kohli-father-of-indian-software-industry-turns-90/458870-11.html<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">ET- Interview with Dr Kohli<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">http://goodbadnews.wordpress.com/2009/12/12/an-excerpt-from-an-interview-of-mr-f-c-kohli-the-founder-of-tata-consultancy-services-tcs/<o:p></o:p></div>&nbsp;Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-47767006704140247382014-06-11T13:20:00.000-07:002014-06-11T13:26:27.829-07:00No Big data in Healthcare?<b>The big data revolution is here, on an aggressive growth path, and the patient might truly be the biggest beneficiary of next wave. But hey! Where is that data?</b><br /><br />1. More than 65% of data across the globe stay non-digitized.<br />2. 68% of digitized data isn't integrated with channels or inter-operable systems.<br />3. 99% problem in delivering effective healthcare is in bad data, old data and No data.<br /><br />The health care system is filled with dreamers, from compassionate nurses and doctors to technology experts, researchers in the lab to people like us- mHealth experts. After careful evaluation of facts, we have arrived at this hypothesis:<br /><br />The need to fully engage patients as a member of the care team is fundamentally about encouraging individuals to become more involved with their healthcare, so they will be motivated to make behavioural changes that can positively impact their health status. Today we do it in 3 ways:<br /><br /><b>1. Public health programs-</b> where we don't spend much on pervasive technologies but paper, photocopies, fuel, per diem (per day) of health workers and volunteers.<br /><br />2. <b>Disease management/Wellness programs- </b>where a patient buys self-help health check-ups like "a dress from fashionandyou.com" based on prize and tests that he has heard off or just go for a master health check-up .<br /><br />Or a Hospital that puts a Diabetes patient on to a DM program which means 3 visits/month on to a clinic for repeat diagnostic tests, doctor consultation, Diet plan and exercise regimen. 90% patients show non-compliance here and the churn is more than 70%. All the data of-course will stay with the hospital and they will never share it with other Doctor or hospital.<br /><br />3. By downloading an app, signing on to a health portal or designing a regular and timely healthcare plan and stick to it. (Surprisingly 23% people do manage their health like this). The problem is that it is very hard to track, monitor or quantify success or deterioration in the absence of proper matrices and without a Doctor's help at the other end.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dtt4tvHWzrU/U5i63S1CAlI/AAAAAAAAEzs/YFiYZuVxccQ/s1600/big-data-groceries.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dtt4tvHWzrU/U5i63S1CAlI/AAAAAAAAEzs/YFiYZuVxccQ/s1600/big-data-groceries.jpeg" height="272" title="" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />If my healthcare data doesn't reside in a cloud, what will BIG Data analytics do for me?<br /><br />I am unlike Retail, Banking, Advertising or any other vertical where there is loads of digital data. In Healthcare, there is very little data.<br /><br />Any phase in the evolution of patient care cannot take place without sharing secure data with a wider group of constituents in the healthcare continuum. The need of the hour hence is:<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HHx7w9jEV1Y/U5i63fqH3gI/AAAAAAAAEzo/J95YDSEWdeI/s1600/Cloud-Computing-Saves-Health-Care-Industry-Time-And-Money.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HHx7w9jEV1Y/U5i63fqH3gI/AAAAAAAAEzo/J95YDSEWdeI/s1600/Cloud-Computing-Saves-Health-Care-Industry-Time-And-Money.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a>1. <b>Data Collection: </b>There is a need to up the public health game by efficient data collection. Episurveyor---&gt;;Magpi (DataDyne), Commcare, Formville, Cellife are some examples of such applications that exist today. Using a cell-phone to complete questions allows for information to be analysed in real time, built in skip logic, and the capturing of other media not possible on a paper form.<br /><br />2. <b>Provider + Government + Health Insurance Push</b>- Obviously you can’t do much about 60% population of India where either there is no computer or no literacy. The need of the hour is to build healthcare models on ubiquitous technologies be it mobile phones, radio, community broadband centres, Zila panchayats, Schools, UID Kendra or areas where there can be a patient dashboard available. In the USA, with strong meaningful use process, organizations are required to offer patients online access to their electronic medical information.<br /><br />To meet the MU2 requirements in the US, a provider must notify at least 50% of its patients of online access to medical records. In addition, the provider must have more than 5% of its patients view, download or transmit their health information as well as another 5% of patients send a secure electronic message to the provider organization. They do this via an online Patient Portal. Not only is the Patient Portal functionality a requirement for meeting MU2, but it extends a tremendous number of additional opportunities for the patient and provider.<br /><br />With support of the provider, patients can use a computer or mobile device to schedule their own appointments, pre-register, select payment plans, share lab results, and of course, view their medical information. Each of these functions helps the patient become more involved in their care while eliminating costs associated with scheduling, sharing results and records, eligibility verification, collections and prescription renewal functions.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ShozieEf0OQ/U5i63Q7MUxI/AAAAAAAAEzk/p2-Vz_45C2c/s1600/predixion_oct12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ShozieEf0OQ/U5i63Q7MUxI/AAAAAAAAEzk/p2-Vz_45C2c/s1600/predixion_oct12.jpg" height="154" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>3. <b>Attaching Data to Channels and Analytics-</b> As per CHMI data every year we run more than 100+ technology driven healthcare programs in India (50+ of them are mHealth programs). Most of them show success and impact but fail to scale as funding or Government support run out. <u>The data as well as the effort goes waste.</u><br /><u><br /></u>There is a need to connect redundant systems with appropriate channels, knowledge blocks and derive influence out of these. While the availability of Mobile apps, patient portals and digitisation of health records does not necessarily translate into active provider or patient use, the technology is emerging as the key platform for various efforts around patient engagement such as access to medical records, communication with providers, education, wellness tracking and e-visits.<br /><br />We need a system that will incorporate registration of births, deaths and cause of death. Maternal and infant death reviews, nutrition surveillance, particularly among under-six children and women, service delivery in the public and private health system, hospital information services besides improving access of public to their own health information and medical records.<br /><br />Big Data analytics can clearly provide---;Great Insights (i.e. trends, impact, markers and analysis)------; A clear Business objective-----------;Change management------;Good project management----;Desired quality and results? (this one is debatable!)<br /><br /><b>The Big Data Success story (Prospective):</b><br />In the United States, the independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield were planning to provide healthcare financing for almost one in three citizens. But accurate research data is critical to providing effective treatment, improving outcomes and helping reduce spiralling costs.<br /><br /><b>Challenge</b><br />Blue Cross and Blue Shield faced the challenge of creating the world's largest healthcare informatics data warehouse to enhance benchmarking capabilities and enable advanced predictive analytics.<br /><br /><b>Blue Health Intelligence</b><br />A renowned IT company designed, developed and implemented a system, dubbed Blue Health Intelligence that would integrate data from up to 40 member companies. They built an overall architectural design incorporating "continuous certification," providing the most comprehensive source of accurate healthcare research data to be found anywhere.This company is CSC.<br /><br /><b>Warehouse Is Key</b><br />The data warehouse is key to the Blue Health Intelligence's overall 10-year strategic plan. No other consortia-based analysis tool exists at this scale: The warehouse is capable of processing medical and other types of claims for 90 to 100 million people, while providing the client with huge competitive advantage. Recognized by both BHI and industry as a one-of-a-kind solution, the BHI data warehouse will lead to greater healthcare transparency by delivering unmatched detail about trends and best practices.<br /><br />This certainly sounds good! Big data analytics help have a direct dialogue with consumers, provide tailored healthcare, perform surveillance and risk analysis, reduce maintenance costs, offer population wise and enterprise- wise insights and customize offerings in real-time.<br /><br />IBM is teaming up with the New York Genome Center to develop Watson so that it can help tailor treatments to specific terminal cancer cases, using what IBM calls "cognitive computing."<br /><br />Comments welcome.<br /><br /><br />Credits:<br />Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration (HISPC). http://healthit.hhs.gov/<br />Meaningful use american recovery and reinvestment act, hrsa.gov<br />Privacy and security guide, Healthit.gov, The Office of the National coordinator for Health Information technology<br />CSC corporation, Blue shield, Blue Cross, Predixion software, Logicworks.net<br />DataDyne presentation by Joel Selanikio; Dan Stoke, Vice President of Client Sales and Service, Intellect Resources<br />A Health Care Provider’s Guide to the HIPAA Privacy Rule: Communicating with a Patient’s Family, Friends, or Others involved in the Patient’s Care.<br />Andrew Gill, UK retailer Waitrose takes a different approach to in-store loyalty cards &amp; big data<br /><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.200002670288086px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div>Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-80392845377121811282014-03-01T13:00:00.001-08:002014-03-01T13:05:00.027-08:00Healthcare On Mobiles: Featured post- mHealth fighting malnutrition<div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://healthcareindia-drruchibhatt.blogspot.com/2012/12/featured-post-mhealth-fighting_10.html?spref=bl">Healthcare On Mobiles: Featured post- mHealth fighting malnutrition</a>:&nbsp;</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--5mjk3o5MLo/UxJLIzCNYCI/AAAAAAAAD3g/9qxAddBJuZI/s1600/i-eaa373d9f1b799ae18e8ff668bb09627-Malnutrition-UNICEF-India.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--5mjk3o5MLo/UxJLIzCNYCI/AAAAAAAAD3g/9qxAddBJuZI/s1600/i-eaa373d9f1b799ae18e8ff668bb09627-Malnutrition-UNICEF-India.jpg" height="204" width="320" /></a></div>Malnutrition is a byword in the forested hills of the Melghat region inhabited mostly by Korku Adivasis. Every year 400-500 children between the ages of 0 and 6 die in the region, comprising Chikhaldhara and Dharni taluks, according to official figures from 2005.<br /><br /><br /><b>The Problem: </b>Thousands of kids die every year in the tribal area of Melghat (Maharashtra, India) due to lack of medical attention and nutritional support. Increased incidence and rapid spread of infectious diseases such as pneumonia, typhoid, and dysentery are primary cause of high child mortality. Situation worsens during monsoon when the food supplies are low and the communicable diseases are at their peak.<br /><br />Melghat is also a place known for high infant mortality rate. Some reasons for the health crisis in Melghat include lack of infrastructure, under-equipped and under-staffed public health and ICDS centres, the tradition of early marriages and early motherhood, lack of sanitation and clean drinking water facilities and the tribals' blind faith in bhumkas (quacks).<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bz6wLRH-aeM/UxJLQ9dQYdI/AAAAAAAAD3o/4DSKlYP0Wt4/s1600/Melghat+2K11+June+043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bz6wLRH-aeM/UxJLQ9dQYdI/AAAAAAAAD3o/4DSKlYP0Wt4/s1600/Melghat+2K11+June+043.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div><b>Failed Operations of the past:</b> When the Maharashtra government first recorded the figures of child deaths due to endemic malnutrition in the remote villages of Melghat, shocking numbers were revealed.Almost two decades later, even though the government figures show a substantial drop in the number of malnutrition deaths, social activists and health-coordinators working in the impoverished area say that the authorities pass off such deaths as still-births.<br /><br />The reality continues to bite with the data recorded just before monsoon this year, indicating 509 malnutrition induced deaths during past year, until March 2011. Every year, hundreds of children of Korku tribe in the tehsils of Melghat in the Satpura ranges fall prey to starvation and malnutrition. While the government records indicate figures ranging from 400-525 in the last five years, health activists working among the tribals tell a different story.Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-72969708385833534552013-12-19T04:12:00.000-08:002013-12-20T23:26:41.518-08:00Top 10 Tech Leaders- Perspectives by Information week<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">Ten Most Impactful <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Technology&amp;src=hash">#Technology</a> Leaders of 2013 <a href="http://t.co/ytjUtt4Oc2">http://t.co/ytjUtt4Oc2</a> <a href="http://t.co/cvkyBsCVqy">pic.twitter.com/cvkyBsCVqy</a><br />— InformationWeek (@iweekindia) <a href="https://twitter.com/iweekindia/statuses/413638475267989504">December 19, 2013</a></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">‘<b>Mobility poised to play a significant role in healthcare’: Dr. Ruchi Dass, Founder &amp; CEO, HealthCursor Consulting Group <o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">An mHealth Evangelist, and Founder &amp; CEO, HealthCursor Consulting Group Dr. Ruchi Dass, has been involved in specific healthcare IT, e-learning and ICT projects for the public/private sector in India. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div><h3><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In an exclusive interview with InformationWeek, she discusses how mobile phones have transformed the entire healthcare landscape and shares how mobile technology is propelling innovation in healthcare. </span></h3><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><u>According to you, how is mobile phone penetration transforming healthcare landscape in India?</u></b>&nbsp;&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">While the Government is building more and more hospitals, the gap between the patient-doctor ratio is huge. For the next 20 years, the infrastructure will not be able to match the growing population of India. Hence, the next step is to create a model where one hospital supplies its service to 10 -15 nearby villages through the use of technology. Technology facilitates remote patient monitoring, enables safe data collection and dissemination, while reducing service costs.&nbsp; To give a data point, every citizen in rural area has to travel a distance of 20 kilometers to avail healthcare facility. The need is to decrease the travel time, decrease the cost and make it more affordable and convenient. For this, the government started disseminating information and awareness through mobile phones. It also started educating rural citizens about the various free campaigns being conducted in their district.&nbsp; Also, today the mobile phones worth only Rs 5,000-6,000 have smartphone capabilities. One can run apps that tell us if a person has got flu or not. This has empowered the rural population too.&nbsp; </div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><u><span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2;">Read more at:&nbsp;</span></u></b><br /><b><u><span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2;"><a href="http://www.informationweek.in/informationweek/news-analysis/174660/-mobility-poised-play-significant-role-healthcare-dr-ruchi-dass-founder-ceo-healthcursor-consulting">http://www.informationweek.in/informationweek/news-analysis/174660/-mobility-poised-play-significant-role-healthcare-dr-ruchi-dass-founder-ceo-healthcursor-consulting</a><br /><br />Read more at:&nbsp;</span></u></b><br /><b><u><span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2;"><a href="http://www.informationweek.in/informationweek/news-analysis/286759/perspectives-impactful-tech-leaders/page/7?utm_source=referrence_article"><span style="color: #1f497d; mso-themecolor: text2;">http://www.informationweek.in/informationweek/news-analysis/286759/perspectives-impactful-tech-leaders/page/7?utm_source=referrence_article</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div><br /><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-34411106509718871802013-09-14T05:50:00.000-07:002013-09-14T05:50:02.567-07:0010 Influential Women in Health IT -By Dan Bowman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JqWFBBkTeVY/UjRbN7LeF-I/AAAAAAAADhY/zDQwzAWW4ao/s1600/Picture1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JqWFBBkTeVY/UjRbN7LeF-I/AAAAAAAADhY/zDQwzAWW4ao/s640/Picture1.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">From government officials to hospitals administrators to patient advocates, women are making an impact in health IT by leading innovation and change in all facets of healthcare. We asked our readers to nominate the most influential women in health IT for our second annual list.</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">And boy, did they respond--it was tough to keep the list to 10. We received nominations for women who are changing the face of personal health data and patient engagement, advancing nurse informatics, promoting mHealth and tele-medicine, using technology to improve global healthcare, developing healthcare apps and more.&nbsp;</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"></div><div class=" jcarousel-skin-tango" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><div class="jcarousel-container jcarousel-container-horizontal" style="padding: 0px 17px 0px 20px; position: relative; width: 470px;"><div class="jcarousel-clip jcarousel-clip-horizontal" style="height: 91px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 470px;"><ul class="jcarousel-list jcarousel-list-horizontal" id="carousel" style="left: 0px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: 0px; width: 934px;"><li class="jcarousel-item jcarousel-item-horizontal jcarousel-item-1 jcarousel-item-1-horizontal" jcarouselindex="1" style="float: left; list-style: none; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px;"><a class="active" href="http://www.fiercehealthit.com/slideshows/10-influential-women-health-it?img=0" rel="shadowbox;width=895;height=520" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" class="imagecache imagecache-thumb100" height="100" src="http://www.fiercehealthit.com/files/healthit/imagecache/thumb100/slideshows/patriciaflatleybrennan.jpg" style="border: 0px none;" title="" width="80" /></a></li><li class="jcarousel-item jcarousel-item-horizontal jcarousel-item-2 jcarousel-item-2-horizontal" jcarouselindex="2" style="float: left; list-style: none; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px;"><a class="active" href="http://www.fiercehealthit.com/slideshows/10-influential-women-health-it?img=1" rel="shadowbox;width=895;height=520" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" class="imagecache imagecache-thumb100" height="100" src="http://www.fiercehealthit.com/files/healthit/imagecache/thumb100/slideshows/ruchidass.jpg" style="border: 0px none;" title="" width="81" /></a></li><li class="jcarousel-item jcarousel-item-horizontal jcarousel-item-3 jcarousel-item-3-horizontal" jcarouselindex="3" style="float: left; list-style: none; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px;"><a class="active" href="http://www.fiercehealthit.com/slideshows/10-influential-women-health-it?img=2" rel="shadowbox;width=895;height=520" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" class="imagecache imagecache-thumb100" height="100" src="http://www.fiercehealthit.com/files/healthit/imagecache/thumb100/slideshows/naomifried.jpg" style="border: 0px none;" title="" width="80" /></a></li><li class="jcarousel-item jcarousel-item-horizontal jcarousel-item-4 jcarousel-item-4-horizontal" jcarouselindex="4" style="float: left; list-style: none; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px;"><a class="active" href="http://www.fiercehealthit.com/slideshows/10-influential-women-health-it?img=3" rel="shadowbox;width=895;height=520" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" class="imagecache imagecache-thumb100" height="100" src="http://www.fiercehealthit.com/files/healthit/imagecache/thumb100/slideshows/jessicagrosset.jpg" style="border: 0px none;" title="" width="83" /></a></li><li class="jcarousel-item jcarousel-item-horizontal jcarousel-item-5 jcarousel-item-5-horizontal" jcarouselindex="5" style="float: left; list-style: none; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px;"><a class="active" href="http://www.fiercehealthit.com/slideshows/10-influential-women-health-it?img=4" rel="shadowbox;width=895;height=520" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" class="imagecache imagecache-thumb100" height="100" src="http://www.fiercehealthit.com/files/healthit/imagecache/thumb100/slideshows/reginaholliday.jpg" style="border: 0px none;" title="" width="80" /></a></li><li class="jcarousel-item jcarousel-item-horizontal jcarousel-item-6 jcarousel-item-6-horizontal" jcarouselindex="6" style="float: left; list-style: none; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px;"><a class="active" href="http://www.fiercehealthit.com/slideshows/10-influential-women-health-it?img=5" rel="shadowbox;width=895;height=520" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" class="imagecache imagecache-thumb100" height="100" src="http://www.fiercehealthit.com/files/healthit/imagecache/thumb100/slideshows/jessjacobs.jpg" style="border: 0px none;" title="" width="80" /></a></li></ul></div></div></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br /><br />Read more:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.fiercehealthit.com/slideshows/10-influential-women-health-it#ixzz2es3FJS1D" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">10 (More) Influential Women in Health IT - FierceHealthIT</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.fiercehealthit.com/slideshows/10-influential-women-health-it#ixzz2es3FJS1D" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">http://www.fiercehealthit.com/slideshows/10-influential-women-health-it#ixzz2es3FJS1D</a><br />Subscribe at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.fiercehealthit.com/signup?sourceform=Viral-Tynt-FierceHealthIT-FierceHealthIT" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">FierceHealthIT</a></span>Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-8794933006619846692013-08-18T00:01:00.000-07:002013-08-18T22:16:51.274-07:00mHealth India- Insurance and technology<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MclCyPodOLs/UhBww2tZtII/AAAAAAAADdc/sGwdR-KfAWs/s1600/Picture1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MclCyPodOLs/UhBww2tZtII/AAAAAAAADdc/sGwdR-KfAWs/s400/Picture1.png" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">Inspite of low penetration of Health Insurance in India, inclination towards Prevention and wellness products and services is on the rise. Penetration of private healthcare insurance policies is less than <a href="http://www.navhindtimes.in/business-and-commerce/startling-facts-uninsurance-and-low-penetration-rates-india">0.5%</a> in India (</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Tahoma, Arial, Georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: start;"><a href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/pf/reliance-life-eyes-expansion-in-health-insurance-space-113042100133_1.html" target="_blank">Health insurance penetration in India is as low as 5%</a>)</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">. If you live in the U.S, you would have come across this tagline many a times "Health Insurance companies investing in Wellness products to reduce claims and cut consumer costs". In India, it is Flipped!!!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As there is not enough health cover, more than 70% expenditure on health is out of pocket. Hence the consumer is now becoming more aware of his/her wellness and is taking initiative to invest in prevention and health checks himself. No wonder, there are a million wellness companies that have mushroomed up in the last 3 years and most of them are making money on a B2C/Retail approach for obvious reasons. We are starting to look at some Technology driven wellness companies including mhealth based ones and I thought it would be worthwhile to know more about the stakeholders, current trends and market dynamics in detail.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u4ZtrXpzz0M/UhBw5rYPBkI/AAAAAAAADdk/jCirxPkZlzY/s1600/Picture2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u4ZtrXpzz0M/UhBw5rYPBkI/AAAAAAAADdk/jCirxPkZlzY/s640/Picture2.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There are several reasons because of which the healthcare insurance penetration in India continues to be low over years in India. It is a shocking fact that some of the most poverty stricken countries have better insurance coverage than India. In some of the African countries, Insurance has joined hands with telecom companies to provide coverage, access and telephony as well. While most of the insurance companies wish to expand their access through every distribution channel, it is imperative that we learn from some of the new age models to dispense health insurance in India too.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Existing examples:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div><h2 style="margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 3.75pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; font-style: italic;">Simplee- </span><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">A Palo Alto, Calif., startup unveiled Simplee, a free mobile app that enables you to carry your medical bills, outstanding claims and health insurance data on your Apple device when you visit the doctor, as well as pay your bill from your smartphone.</span></h2><h2 style="margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 3.75pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; font-style: italic;">HealthCoach- </span><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">Companies such as Healthrageous, Keas and ShapeUp are busy selling the idea of mobile health coaching to U.S. companies desperate to cut both their health insurance costs and losses due to absenteeism.</span></h2><h2 style="margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 3.75pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="font-size: x-large;">Bluebutton-</i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">The feds offer their own version of a mobile "medical wallet" called Blue Button, which enables Medicare recipients and U.S. veterans to access, download and store up to three years' worth of personal health records onto their computer, tablet, smartphone and other mobile devices.</span></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2J-eEQ2T_CA/UhBxDmKm6NI/AAAAAAAADds/Qom0BMBezM0/s1600/cell_phone_1209969g.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2J-eEQ2T_CA/UhBxDmKm6NI/AAAAAAAADds/Qom0BMBezM0/s320/cell_phone_1209969g.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><u><span style="font-family: inherit;">An ideal mHealth framework may require the use of mobile technology for:<o:p></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">1. Awareness building<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">2. Policy comparisons<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">3. Market research<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">4. Marketing<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">5. Risk Modelling<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">6. Sales/Purchases<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">7. Policy administration<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">8. Billing <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">9. Claims settlement<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">10. Customer service<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 19px;"><b>Inspiring trends:</b></span><br /><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 19px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="line-height: 19px;"><b style="font-size: 17px;">Distribution and Marketing- </b>Mobile network operators in Africa have identified the growing demand for financial services and micro insurance . Airtel Africa has partnered with MicroEnsure for Mobile Micro Insurance. The range of Airtel-branded insurance products includes life, accident, health, agriculture, and other forms of cover.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 19px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="line-height: 19px;"><b style="font-size: 17px;">Connecting intermediaries, customers and surveyors- </b>ICICI Lombard India's mobile initiative started simply enough, with a set of basic applications that gave customers a consolidated view of all their policies, a reminder service to renew a policy, and a way to track the status of a claim. But as they matured with the mobile platform, they re-visited the paradigm and devised new ways to provide customers with more value-added and user-friendly features. This is however restricted to Auto insurance only.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 19px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="line-height: 19px;"><b style="font-size: 17px;">&nbsp;Encryption, Transactions and handling customer grievance- </b>Public sector general insurance company United India Insurance launched a mobile-based real-time fund transfer facility for payment of premium. M-Power enables customers to renew their policies and also remit the premium for approved proposals. To use this facility, one has to get an MMID (an identification number called - mobile money identifier) from his/her bank and enable one’s mobile with the application given by the bank. However, there are only 10 banks on board with this platform. This initiative follows the launch of its Internet-based sales, customer grievance portal and information-cum-sales kiosks.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 19px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="line-height: 19px;"><b style="font-size: 17px;">Sales, awareness and providing access- </b>Bima, a young Swedish microinsurance company, is using mobile phones to sell as many as three billion new insurance policies to the global poor. Bima, that has begun to access this untapped market, is now one of the largest mobile insurance platforms in the world. In just three years, Bima has acquired 4 million clients in Africa and Asia and is adding 400,000 new subscribers per month. Bima has been tackling many of the obstacles—education, pricing, premium collection—that prevent poor people from obtaining such benefits. For instance, Bima products such as life, accident and health insurance cost "as little as $0.20 to $6.00 a month. Last month, Leapfrog invested $4.25 million in Bima, which will allow the company to expand even further within Africa and Asia as well as reach into new markets in Latin America.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <br />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; To be contd..<br /><br />Interesting read:<br /><a href="http://www.insurancetech.com/architecture-infrastructure/mobile-in-health-insurance-carefirst-ups/240159952" target="_blank">CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield taps Cognizant to support its mobile technology initiatives.</a><br /><a href="http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-04-21/news/38710194_1_health-insurance-segment-penetration-customer" target="_blank">RelianceLife eyes expansion in health insurance space</a><br /><div><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597071658495402459.post-27389567460726650362013-04-21T04:45:00.000-07:002013-04-21T04:52:40.482-07:00Health startups that interests @HealthCursor @medmocha<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.techinasia.com/zipdial-jungle-ventures-launches-sri-lanka/">Zipdial | India ZipDial</a> is a unique company from Bangalore, India, that monetizes from missed calls. Its business model has caught the attention of Singapore-based Jungle Ventures who invested in the startup this week. Plus, ZipDial unveiled some expansion plans.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.techinasia.com/wishvn-foray-medical-startups-vietnam/">Wish.vn | Vietnam Wish.vn</a> is a healthcare social network community in Vietnam. It is basically a combination of electronic health records, a social network to allow patients to rate health care, healthcare information, promotions connecting with partners, and tools to help you keep up your health.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.operationsmile.org.in/">Operation Smile</a> | India Operationsmile.org.in is a healthcare social impact organisation. Cleft Care Centres provides year-round free reconstructive surgeries to children who suffer from cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.podimetrics.com/">Podimetrics</a> is developing a high-tech shoe insole for diabetics<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="https://simplee.com/">Simplee</a> helps people manage their out-of-pocket healthcare costs which, on average, run about $3,600 a year for a family of four. The platform shows you how much money you’ve spent on healthcare, the status of your insurance deductible, your health savings account balance and transactions, and where there may be errors in your bill—an important feature considering some sources say about 80% of bills contain them. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://gainfitness.com/">GAIN</a> is an iPhone and Web app that lets you quickly create custom, pro-quality workouts to do at home or the gym. The app instructs you on how to perform each exercise and how many sets and reps to do for each, depending on your goals and fitness level. The app also quantifies your performance using an in-built tracking and analytics system.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.alt12.com/">alt12</a> apps‘s pink pad is a health and lifestyle tracker with an&nbsp; integrated online community to connect women.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.gilbertguide.com/">Gilbert Guide</a> is a comprehensive senior housing guide and homecare directory for aging parent<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://myevoz.com/">Evoz</a> allows for remote baby monitoring<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="https://www.docphin.com/">Docphin</a> allows health care providers to access, organize, and share medical news research<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://unitedpreference.com/">UnitedPreference</a> has developed Tailored Spend, a virtual currency used to purchase only items conducive to a healthy lifestyle<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="https://www.medmonk.com/">Medmonk</a> is the easiest way for pharmacies to get their patients discounts of 90% or more on prescription medications<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.medmocha.com/">Medmocha</a> is a new concept to link health innovators with small angel investors. www.medmocha.com<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div>Dr Ruchi Dasshttps://plus.google.com/111529190606991167906noreply@blogger.com